Eurosatory or the illustration of international cooperation

The Eurosatory exhibition is an opportunity to highlight the links between countries, particularly through their capability cooperation. Army General Pierre Schill, Chief of Staff of the Army, and his Belgian counterpart, Major General Jean-Pol Baugnee, spoke at a round table to illustrate the successes of the CaMo partnership (motorized capability). For General Baugnee, it is a unique integration model in Europe: “CaMo, in ten years, has developed extremely. We have reached a unique level of integration. This is proof that the French Army listens to the needs and constraints of its partners. HAS”

General Schill also underlined the strategic evolution of this partnership, initially conceived as a simple capability cooperation between the Belgian Army and the French Army. “Initially designed as a capability program, CaMo has gradually gone beyond this single dimension to give birth to a true operational community, united by common equipment, a shared doctrine as well as joint training and training courses. »

“This operational community now opens the way to strategic-level cooperation. It offers our leaders the guarantee that they can engage French and Belgian units together, with proven interoperability and mutual knowledge built over the course of exercises and deployments, particularly in Romania. »

This Franco-Belgian synergy, now joined by Luxembourg, illustrates the desire displayed by the Ministry of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs to build an integrated European defense, capable of meeting the requirements of the modern battlefield.

Testimony from the Ukrainian front

Further on, the Future Combat Command welcomed Viacheslav Kotsiuba, officer of the 1^is corps of the Ukrainian National Guard. The latter shared his lessons learned from the Zaporizhia front, highlighting a major strategic turning point. “Since the very end of 2023, we have seen a Russian advantage in Ukrainian territory, and then something happened, and Ukraine managed to regain control of its territories to a greater extent than Russia was able to conquer.‹he said.

The officer attributed this increased efficiency to a profound tactical evolution, notably the integration of “assault drone troops”. “We have a shooting team of 4 to 8 people,” explained Viacheslav Kotsiuba. The main firepower of this group lies in the fact that we have FPV drones responsible for intervening directly in the face of any type of danger detected. » This approach allows the enemy to be neutralized without exposing the soldiers.

Drones are also a game-changer on the battlefield. Covering 250 kilometers, they target enemy logistics assets and air defense systems, destroying 174 systems last year, according to the Ukrainian officer.

At the same time, this transformation is based on the so-called “Force Reform”, which restructured operational command. “Last year, around 24 units were recently created on the front line,” detailed Viacheslav Kotziuba. The experience acquired during the defense of Mariupol is now institutionalized within units bringing together infantry, artillery, air defense and drones under a unified command.

Five lessons

To complete this testimony, Colonel Rémy Hemez, head of the retex synthesis office² of the Future Combat Command returned to the lessons of this conflict for the French Army.

• The first, the survivability of soldiers on the battlefield. It involves anti-drone combat capabilities but also autonomy and decentralization of units. “Units must be smaller and more dispersed, which means that tactical leaders must be better trained, more autonomous and, for example, be able to call for artillery fire or use drones themselves,” explains Colonel Hemez. Tactical mobility must also be rethought to pierce defense lines or to infiltrate, a light mobility which must complement armored mobility. Finally, survival must also take into account droneization, with a battlefield modified by “mass precision, that is to say precise weapons in large numbers, inexpensive and which considerably modify our tactical procedures”, specifies the colonel.
• The second lesson concerns deep shots. They allow both to strike command posts and enemy logistics.

• The space dependencethen, with observation capabilities which now go down to the lowest tactical level, according to the officer. Lessons implemented during the Orion exercise: “For example, we deployed these capabilities at the brigade level, which had never been done before.”

  Secondly, this dependence concerns hybridization in the field of communications. Colonel Hemez gave the example of Starlink, used by the Russians and the Ukrainians.

• Finally, the use of artificial intelligence. Faced with the emergence of this technology and its integration into numerous systems, the combat command of the future asks itself a question: “What are the truly relevant uses of artificial intelligence on the battlefield?” For the colonel, the key lies in the identification of areas where AI is truly essential. A meticulous work that he is currently carrying out.Â

¹ Translated from English.

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