France Holds 'Unprecedented' War Games Amid Military Buildup
13:17 GMT 27.02.2023 (Updated: 14:06 GMT 27.02.2023)
© AP Photo / Christophe Simon
Subscribe
The drills’ commander, Nicolas Le Nen, called the war games the return of major military operations to French territory.
More than 7,000 servicemen are currently taking part in France’s biggest military exercise in decades, which is dubbed Orion 23 and is scheduled to be wrapped up in May.
Apart from French soldiers, servicemen from the US, the UK and Spain are involved in the drills that will simulate parachute operations and amphibious landings along the Mediterranean coast.
The operations, which are currently in full swing across the Occitanie region in France, will then move to the Atlantic coast regions of Nouvelle Aquitaine and Brittany. The drills consist of four stages, with the most important Phase 4 expected to see a major air-land "confrontation" between France and a simulated enemy.
According to a French newspaper, the country’s army has mobilized the Charles-de-Gaulle aircraft carrier and more than a thousand land and sea vehicles for the "unprecedented large-scale military simulation."
Another French newspaper cited an unnamed military source as saying that Orion 23’s goal is to "show France’s ability to be the first to enter a theatre of operations, but also to lead an international coalition."
Exercise commander Nicolas Le Nen, for his part, described the drills as "the return of big operations on French soil."
France to Beef Up Its Defense Budget
These war games come amid France’s ever-increasing effort to build up its military might and Paris' bellicose rhetoric toward Moscow, which continues its special military operation in Ukraine.
In late January, French President Emmanuel Macron detailed plans for a major boost to the country’s armed forces, which he said is needed to meet modern threats, naming Russia as a primary area of focus for Paris.
According to Macron, the next seven-year budget would increase to €413 billion ($435 billion), up from €295 billion ($311 billion). Meeting soldiers at Mont-de-Marsan airbase at the time, Macron said that first and foremost, France should repair and restock its armed forces, and then transform them.
The French president admitted that there were no more post-Cold War "peace dividends" following Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, which is why he said the goal is to renew a French military that should protect the country’s freedom, security, prosperity and place in the world.
11 October 2022, 20:19 GMT
The reforms, in particular, stipulate a 60% hike in the military intelligence budget to adapting to "high-intensity" conflict with investment in drones, cyber-defense and improved air defenses. Macron warned that "We [France] need to be one war ahead."
He also called for France rethinking its alliances while remaining a reliable NATO ally, and deepening its relationships with Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain.
National Strategic Review
The remarks followed Macron unveiling France’s "national strategic review" in November 2022, aimed at defining how the country’s defense will look like in 2030.
France wants to be an "independent, respected, agile power at the heart of the European strategic autonomy" with strong links to the Atlantic alliance, he said at the time. He again lashed out at Russia over its special operation in Ukraine, which Macron claimed "may precede broader geopolitical rivalries and a future that we have no reason to accept with fatalism."
According to him, France's new strategic document provides that the country will maintain a "capacity to lead military operations, including those of high intensity, alone or within a coalition." Macron added that French troops would maintain their large presence abroad in an area stretching from sub-Saharan Africa to the Middle East.
The French president also said that Paris would launch talks with its African partners and regional organizations to make changes to the "status, format and missions of the current French military bases in the Sahel and West Africa." A new organization, based on collaboration between French and local armed forces, is expected to be formed within six months of the discussions.
The National Strategic Review specifically focuses on nuclear deterrence regarding France, which is the only EU country with nuclear weapons. "When peace is back in Ukraine, we will need to assess all the consequences" via a "new security architecture" in Europe, Macron said.
He argued that a "credible, modern" nuclear deterrence is key to building up such an architecture, adding, "our nuclear forces contribute through their own existence to the security of France and Europe."
Russia to Discuss France, UK Nuclear Potential
France’s Orion 23 drills kicked off a few days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the suspension of his country’s participation in the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
"I have to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Let me repeat — [Russia] is not withdrawing from the treaty, but merely suspending its participation. But before returning to discussing it, we need to understand what countries like France and the United Kingdom consider to be their strategic arsenals, and how we will take them into account, that is, the combined strike potential of the [North Atlantic] Alliance," Putin said during his address to the Federal Assembly on February 21.
The issue was also mentioned in Putin’s interview with Russian media on Sunday, when he said that Moscow has to return to discussing the issue of the UK and France's nuclear potential, because NATO has shown that it is a military bloc, rather than a political one.
"At one time, we moved not to take them into account, bearing in mind both détente and the fact that NATO had declared itself an almost demilitarized organization. They claimed the alliance was a political organization rather than a military bloc. […] But we see what is happening, so we are simply forced to return to the discussion of this topic […]," Putin pointed out.
26 February 2023, 07:20 GMT
The New START deal, in effect since February 5, 2011, is the last remaining legally binding agreement between the US and Russia. Under the document, Moscow and Washington have been required to reduce their nuclear arsenal to a total of 700 missiles, 800 launchers and 1,550 deployed warheads. The treaty was set to expire last year, but both sides managed to find common ground to approve a prolongation of the accord for five more years without renegotiating any of its terms.
