Protecting French interests around the world
From February 24 to mid-July, aboard the PHA Mistral and FLF Surcouf, nearly 800 military personnel...
On this occasion, Patricia Miralles, Deputy Minister for Memory and Veterans, attended the departure ceremony of the Jeanne d'Arc 2025 mission on the flight deck of the amphibious helicopter carrier Mistral. After the salute from the commander of the troops and the honors rendered to the pennant followed by the Marseillaise, she reviewed the troops and read the order of the day. Then, the minister attended the presentation of the halberd of the Jeanne by Vice-Admiral Laurent Hemmer, commander of the École navale, before a time of exchange with the officer cadets.
TRAINING AT THE HEART OF OPERATIONS The mission is a long-term annual operational deployment through which France ensures its presence in several areas of interest, allowing it to maintain strategic partnerships while offering a concrete, realistic, and high-quality training framework for the embarked officer cadets of the École navale. This mission offers the opportunity to deploy all the strategic functions of the Marine nationale: 'knowledge – anticipation', 'prevention', 'influence' and, if the situation requires, 'intervention', to protect its interests around the world and particularly in its overseas territories. It illustrates both its training and operational character, by preparing officers of the Marine nationale to conduct operations far away, at sea but also on land.
Plunged into the heart of operations, the embarked officer cadets are subject to a high level of requirement to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
Thus, they are led to grasp the challenges of conducting operations, to develop the essential skills of their profession as officers of the Marine, to demonstrate adaptability, while improving their knowledge of the areas crossed and absorbing the associated geostrategic stakes. By confronting their perceptions with those of other future French and foreign military leaders from the maritime world, they address the global nature of a Marine officer's actions.
STRATEGIC INTEREST After a deployment around the Americas in 2024, the 2025 mission is deploying across the North Atlantic. During its journey, the group will conduct numerous exercises with partner militaries as well as sovereignty and presence forces. This is an opportunity to demonstrate amphibious, land, and airmobile expertise in the projection of power and military forces during complex operations.
The mission also allows the French armed forces to improve their autonomous assessment of situations, to guarantee their freedom of action, and to maintain partnerships in Africa, the Americas, and the Far North.
This deployment is a recognized vector for international cooperation, which strengthens the security and defense relations that France maintains with its strategic partners. The embarked tactical group (GTE) of the armée de Terre, including an airmobile sub-group (S/GAM) aboard the PHA Mistral, constitutes a framework conducive to becoming seasoned in various amphibious and air-land maneuvers, enabling the conduct of a joint mission. Requiring a high degree of tactical coordination between the different military components involved, these operations demonstrate long-range and land-based capabilities.
The amphibious group and its embarked reaction force demonstrate the complementarity between the armée de Terre and the Marine nationale, ensuring adaptation to all situations encountered.
Photos Philippe OLIVIER.