Britons visiting the Olympic Games in Paris this summer could be zapped by France's anti-drone defense systems, causing a huge embarrassment to President Macron.
The French capital is host the Olympics in July and will welcome tens of thousands of athletes and visitors to the Games.
Among them are expected to be up to 500,000 British athletics fans, eager to catch a glimpse of their stars and soak up the atmosphere of the sporting carnival.
French authorities are investing heavily in security as fears of terrorist attacks increase due to geopolitical events.
Drone attacks are of particular concern to security officials because they can easily be equipped with explosives.
A tempting target for potential terrorists is the opening ceremony, where Olympic officials plan to ferry athletes on boats down the Seine as 326,000 people watch from the banks.
As a result, Macron's government invested 350 million euros in what was supposed to be an advanced anti-drone system manufactured by the French company Thales.
The drone defense system, known as Parade, has not exactly proven to be a great success in trials and could even pose a threat to unsuspecting tourists.
According to the system, the system regularly confused the propellers of air conditioning units with drones The times.
It was also able to detect just one in three drones within a range of 800 meters in dense urban environments.
Thales insisted they would iron out the flaws in the system, which they described as a normal part of the teething process.
In a statement they said: “One of Parade's objectives is to provide an easy-to-use, high-performance anti-drone system.
“The system is based on the integration of several sensors and advanced processing algorithms developed by Thales and Sopra-CS.
“Given the commitment involved, it is normal that developing these algorithms and refining these sensors will require some effort and time, but the most important thing is to be ready for the 2024 Olympic Games with a system that allows armed forces operators have completely taken over.”
The RAF has offered to supply French authorities with drone jamming equipment as part of ongoing joint security measures between London and Paris.
A UK Ministry of Defense spokesperson said: “We are working across Whitehall to provide UK support to the security operation for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“Our specialist search dog units will assist in securing the site and the RAF will provide equipment and personnel to help combat potential unauthorized drones.”