France is reportedly planning its biggest-ever military exercise. As per an AFP report, it will involve 12,000 troops, including NATO allies Germany, Britain, Belgium, Italy and Spain, along with the United States and will happen in the first half of next year.
The wargames are called Orion and come against the background of the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war. As per a senior French official, they are justified because of the geopolitical context.
“The geopolitical context justifies this exercise,” said Yves Metayer, commander of the troop deployment division at the French chiefs of staff.
He added that the scenario plans for a major confrontation with an unspecified foreign state and that the plan had been in development since 2020 and was a culmination of a French strategic review that was released in 2017.
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Metayer said that the review indicated that preparation for a major conflict was required, given the two decades of “mostly assymetrical warfare with non-state actors” like Jihadists.
Orion will include components for the land, sea, air, and space as well as cyber warfare— along with civilian operations such as transportation and medical services during conflicts.
The first phase will act as a simulation of an intervention in a nation that is being torn apart by militia activity and is a neighbour to a nuclear-armed superpower.
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In it, 7,000 soldiers will take part in a sequence featuring naval operations in the Mediterranean and an amphibian and airlift operation. This will reportedly take place in southern France between late February and early May.
The second phase from mid-April to early May will be a simulation of air and land conflict with the aforementioned nuclear superpower and would deploy 12,000 troops in Northern France.
(With inputs from agencies)
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