If there is an EU navy, this is it.
And it is really handy to have all the ships fired up and ready to go should anything erupt at the other end of the Mediterranean/Black Sea between Ukraine and Russia (looking at you Crimea) over the next couple weeks.
POLARIS is an unprecedented exercise focusing on high intensity combat. Half of the French Navy fleet will deploy to take part in it.
POLARIS is a major operational exercise meant to prepare forces for a high-intensity engagement.
This joint, combined and inter-theatre exercise will involve 6,000 French troops from the French Army, Navy and Air Force, including 4,000 French Navy sailors, virtually half of the vessels in the fleet as well as some allied navies. US Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Porter is set to participate, Naval News has learned. Likewise, Royal Navy Type 45 / Daring-class destroyer HMS Dragon was spotted in Toulon naval base today and is likely to participate in POLARIS too. The full list of participating units will be released later this week.
POLARIS 21 is an unprecedented event, which strengthens and federates cooperation around actions at the top of the spectrum between the partner nations of the French Armed Forces.
POLARIS 21 is an operational preparation exercise for a high-intensity engagement that is fully in line with the strategic vision of the French Armed Forces Chief of Staff and the “Combat Navy” axis of the Mercator Acceleration 2021 plan of Admiral Pierre Vandier, Chief of Staff of the French Navy.
While the French armed forces retain the capacity to act alone, the normal framework for their commitment is that of collective action, through the strengthening of operational partnerships with many countries. POLARIS 21 will mobilize all components of the French Navy, including its latest-generation assets, land and air assets from the French Army and Air Force, as well as combat ships and aircraft from France’s partner nations: the United States, Spain, Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom. POLARIS 21 will take place mainly in the western Mediterranean, but also the off the French Atlantic coast....
....MUCH MORE
