Page 22 - ADT MAY-JUNE 2022 Online Magazine

renewed ambition to play a role in the growing strategic compe- [ REPORT ]
tition at sea.

The high-intensity exercise included a segment on the Atlantic
coast of mainland France. The French Army and Navy and part-
ner nations Greece, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United
States and a NATO element participated in the drills. Military ana-
lysts note that preparing for high-end naval missions has recently
become a chief concern for these countries as they fear that the
return of great-power competition — be it in the North Atlantic,
the Mediterranean Sea, or the Indo-Pacific — could endanger
their prosperity as well as their national security interests. Faced
with a lack of naval assets, ageing platforms, and shortcomings
in training and readiness, European countries, especially France,
have become increasingly aware of the limitations and the need
Arming to refocus their navies on high-intensity scenarios.
the Sea Shift in Scenarios

The French Navy shrank after the Cold War, but it has preserved a
number of capabilities, primarily to maintain its nuclear mission. It
has shrunk from 75,000 to about 35,000 personnel and from a fleet
of 147 combat and support vessels in 1985 to about 90 currently.
HIGH-END NAVAL MISSIONS HAVE Meanwhile, the French Navy has been making major investments
towards modernizing their attack and ballistic submarines, as well
RECENTLY BECOME A MAJOR as the associated weapon systems, while expanding their modern
WORRY FOR EUROPEAN NATIONS frigate fleet. The Navy recently refitted its lone aircraft carrier, the
nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle, and is conducting studies for
Jay Menon the construction of one or possibly two carriers to replace it. The
Navy also is scheduled to modernize a number of its aircraft, includ-
ing its carrier-borne E-2 early warning aircraft and its Atlantique
Last November, the French Navy conducted patrolcraft; the latter do double duty as intelligence, surveillance,
a major force-on-force operational readiness and reconnaissance platforms and as weapon platforms supporting
exercise called POLARIS 21 in the western land operations in Africa and the Levant.
Mediterranean. Polaris 21, which comes from
the French name for the exercise — Préparation By and large, French naval personnel are trained for conventional
Opérationnelle en Lutte Aéromaritime, warfare, as the Navy’s mission really has not changed since the
Résilience, Innovation et Supériorité —could Cold War. The Navy’s limitations are found in the relatively small
be construed as an illustration of Europe’s size of the fleet. Like France’s other services, the Navy has issues

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