Yuri Kobzar19:34, 25.02.23

The French army for the first time in many years is preparing for war with an enemy of equal strength.

In France, the largest military exercises in recent years have started, in which the army will work out its participation in a full-scale war. Le Figaro writes about it .

The Orion exercises are necessary to work out the interaction of various branches of the armed forces in the conditions of a “high-intensity war.” The modern French army simply does not have such combat experience.

“In Afghanistan or Mali, the soldiers did not have to be afraid of either air defenses or enemy artillery, at best, potentially lethal ambushes, but without any real impact on the forces. Tomorrow the enemy may be equal [to us in strength],” the newspaper writes.

According to Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, the current exercises have become the largest “in many decades.” In total, about 20 thousand military personnel of the land, sea and air forces, as well as units of the space, information and cyber security sectors are involved.

“These exercises, which will last more than 2 months, are designed to prepare our forces for the most difficult situations of modern warfare and demonstrate that our military is able to respond and demonstrate resilience in high-intensity conflict,” Lecornu said.

At the same time, the French military claim that they conceived these exercises back in 2021 – before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“Events in Ukraine have changed the context, but not the scenario of the exercises. But this conflict underlines the importance of the options that we have chosen,” said Nicolas Le Nan, commander of the French troops.

(C)UNIAN 2023