What is the High Mountain Military School?
In the arctic, every movement, decision, and tactical action is influenced by the cold, isolation, and harshness of the terrain. To prepare for this, the High Mountain Military School (EMHM), a center of expertise for the armed forces, trains specialized leaders in winter conditions in France and, with the support of defense network and partner armies, has been conducting training sessions for the most experienced specialists in the arctic for over 10 years, to face the most demanding operational conditions.
In the Arctic, two weeks to confirm operational skills
Once again this year, the EMHM, with its expert trainers from the mountain training division and the high mountain military group, conducted training for future experts and mountain commandos. During 2 synthesis raids starting from Danish army outposts, around fifteen future mountain and extreme cold experts from the armies and a dozen mountain commandos demonstrated the operational skills acquired in France in a challenging area of the Arctic over the past weeks. During more than two weeks autonomously, these future experts and commandos implemented snowmobile navigation, ski travel pulling sled pulks, bivouac camping in extreme conditions, and all risk management strategies and operational techniques related to the extreme temperatures combined with snow-covered terrain, glaciers, and ice.
Reconnaissance mission for the Air and Space Arm
For the second consecutive year, within the framework of arctic experiments, an A400M from the Air and Space Arm set up three detachments, their technical equipment, skis, snowmobiles, logistical autonomy, on makeshift snow tracks in temperatures between -30 and -40°C. This 2026 edition is particularly unique as it allowed for cooperation with the Danish army, both through integration into one of the raids and through a reconnaissance mission to identify a suitable area for the first A400M landing on an icy surface carried out jointly with Danish specialists and a mixed detachment from the 25th Air Engineering Regiment – EMHM. The success of the 2026 edition illustrates the consolidation of French joint interarmes capabilities to act in the Arctic, the increasing interoperability with partner armies in the Arctic, and a demonstration of the ability to support engagement in these environments by non-specialized units.
