The amphibious helicopter carrier (PHA) Tonnerre and the joint detachments it embarked are back in Toulon after their participation in the European exercise MILEX 23.
crisis management scenario. An important milestone in the agenda of the European Strategic Compass was thus achieved this week.
MILEX 23 represents an unprecedented European training in terms of its scale and the resources deployed at sea and in the field. It has increased the capacity to plan and conduct a military operation autonomously. The exercise was divided into two phases: a three-week operational planning phase (Command Post Exercise) and a week-long tactical conduct phase (LIVEX) in the vicinity of Rota, Spain.
On the French side, the Amphibious Task Group (ATG), formed around the PHA Tonnerre, had left Toulon on 9 October to join the exercise area. It had a total of nearly 600 military personnel and included:
• the tripartite minehunter Croix du Sud
• an embarked reaction force (FRE) made up of an embarked sub-battle group of the Marine Infantry Regiment (RICM) and other units of
the 9th Marine Infantry Brigade, i.e. 55 vehicles: six AMX10-RC tanks, about twenty light vehicles, and six armored vehicles
including two Griffons
• a detachment from the amphibious flotilla with a rapid amphibious landing craft (EDAR), two material transport barges (CTM) and a beach reconnaissance team (ERP)
• a section of marine riflemen from the BFM Détroyat with a dog team
• a detachment of six helicopters (three Gazelles and two Cougars from the Army’s light aviation and a Puma from the Air and Space Force).