This came according to what the newspaper “Politico” published on its website, where editor Laura Kayali continued that thousands of French soldiers will need, in May 2025, to test their ability to meet the requirements of the “NATO” alliance and reach Romania within 10 days.
This will be, according to the newspaper, within the framework of a large-scale military exercise in Romania called “Dacian Spring 2025,” which will assess the ability of French soldiers to move quickly to NATO’s eastern flank, which is the basic competency they need if “the Russian president decides.” Vladimir Putin attacking a member of the coalition,” the newspaper said.
In turn, the Commander of the Army’s Ground Forces in Europe, General Bertrand Tojos, told reporters last Friday: “We were playing the war game, but now we have a specific enemy, and we are training with people we are already going to war with,” adding that the “Dacian Spring of 2025” is only “a signal.” strategy”.
The newspaper continues: “In the past few years, French ground forces have begun a profound transformation to be ready for an intense conflict similar to the war in Ukraine. The French army also received orders for new marches from NATO: “By 2027, the French army should be able to deploy a war-ready division in 30 days, including ammunition and supplies.”
Senior officers explained, according to the newspaper, that moving towards this goal is at the heart of next year’s “Spring of Dacian” maneuvers, where the French army will train to send a war-ready brigade to Romania within 10 days, which is an intermediate step that, if successful, will reaffirm France’s credibility with… NATO allies and paves the way to reach the 2027 goal.
The number of brigade soldiers ranges from 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers, while the number of division soldiers ranges from 10,000 to 25,000 soldiers.
“Military Schengen is still absent, and we need to decisively improve military mobility in Europe,” says General Pierre Gueux, Togos’ deputy, referring to concerns previously expressed by his boss.
The first deployment of troops to Romania in 2022 was fraught with bureaucracy, border procedures and inappropriate trains of military equipment, and the two countries have worked to resolve such obstacles.
“We may still suffer from some customs procedures, but we have made a lot of progress in diversifying our routes,” Gio told reporters. The army used to rely solely on trains, but now it also transports troops and equipment by trucks and boats, sometimes combining different transportation methods.
Tojos expressed confidence in the ability of French soldiers to pass next year’s test, but the newspaper says that to achieve the 2027 target, defense spending will need to continue to meet the non-binding seven-year military planning law, as warned by General Pierre Schell, commander of the French army. .
The defense budget is under pressure as the new French government tries to rein in the country’s deficit.
“I expect the planned resources will be fully in place,” Schell said. “If major changes occur, we may at some point postpone the 2027 target, claiming that there are not enough stocks to transport them into combat.”
However, as the newspaper asserts, all of this is “fiction.” “Just a hypothesis, at least for now.”
Source: Politico
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