La Marine deploys high intensity on the Var coasts

On that day, armored vehicles plowed through the white sand. From 8 a.m., in a mechanical ballet timed to the millimeter, the beach was transformed into a landing zone for the French armed forces. Far from the postcards, this operation was part of the operational preparation of the army. Under the general direction of the Centre Expert du Commandement Interarmées (CECIA), commanded by Vice-Admiral Royer de Véricourt, France is testing its capacity to be the first to enter a theater of operations. That morning, the Marine nationale mobilized its amphibious helicopter carriers (PHA), true Swiss army knives of the seas, to project the firepower of the armée de Terre onto our Var soil.

AMPHIBIOUS LANDING

In concrete terms, the deployment is massive. No fewer than a hundred combatants are treading the sand. They belong to the tactical embarkation group (GTE) from the prestigious 126ème régiment d’infanterie of Brive-la-Gaillarde. To support them, around fifty tactical vehicles were landed, including light armored vehicles, véhicules de l’Avant blindés (VAB) and above all the imposing GRIFFON, spearheads of the SCORPION program. This training aimed to prepare phase 0.2 of the ORION 26 exercise, dubbed 'conquest of zone superiority'. While the major exercise officially began on February 6 on the Atlantique coast, it is indeed in the Méditerranée and more

precisely on the Var coasts that the troops are honing their skills. The objective is to prepare men and equipment for the landing of an amphibious force to seize a port and airport area. Behind these technical maneuvers lies a worrying geopolitical reality taken into account by the Staff. The ORION 26 exercise is based on a fictional but credible scenario, developed by the teams of Vice-Admiral Royer de Véricourt. Faced with this type of threat, qualified as hybrid and high intensity, the armed forces must train in real conditions. It is a matter of demonstrating that France is 'ready to act, determined to protect'. Training in Cabasson thus allows La Marine to validate its capacity to conduct crisis management operations 'under short notice', while integrating complex joint elements.

THE VAR, LAND OF STRATEGIC DEFENSE

For local residents and observers, this deployment recalls that the Var remains an essential link in national defense. The exercise is not limited to a simple landing: from 9:30 a.m., a transit via amphibious landing craft brought the troops back to the helicopter carriers for a presentation of the embarked Staff, before a return to the beach at the end of the morning. While the phase of conquest of superiority

will continue until the beginning of March, notably on the Atlantique coast with the intervention of Vice-Admiral Jean-François Quérat, maritime prefect of the Atlantique, this Var episode left a mark on minds by its symbolism. By transforming a Var beach into a military bridgehead, the French army sent a strong message: it trains everywhere, in the heart of territories, to guarantee the security of the Nation in the face of a hardening world. •