The Exercise Orion team of Indian Air Force (IAF) did a quick halt in Egypt on their way to France to participate in multinational joint military exercise currently being conducted in France.
France is conducting its largest military exercise in decades, Orion 23, with NATO forces.
Today, four IAF Rafales departed for Mont-de-Marsan Air base of the ‘Air and Space Force’ of France. This would be the first overseas exercise for IAF Rafales which are being staged by two C-17 aircrafts.
“Exercise ORION 2023” is the biggest military exercise launched by France in decades, together with its NATO Allies. The drills are conducted over several months, starting in late February and ending in May 2023. The peak of the exercise is scheduled from late April to early May, in north-eastern France. During this phase, around 12,000 troops will be deployed on the ground and in the skies to repel a simulated high-intensity attack.
It is the first exercise in what French Joint Forces Command hopes will be a triennial cycle of exercises aimed at reinforcing joint forces operational readiness. Based on a scenario developed by NATO to apprehend the different phases of a modern conflict, it aims to train the French armed forces within a multinational joint forces framework, with the goal of refocusing the armed forces and their various branches and administrative levels on a joint, multi-domain (MDO) exercise in a contested environment.
One of the major training themes of ORION 23 is the coordination of assets and effects over the full spectrum of operations to tackle these hybrid strategies. The integration of allies in the exercise reinforces the credibility of the defence alliance. Several international partners (United States, United Kingdom, Spain etc.) are taking part in the various phases of the exercise. This multinational dimension will enable every branch of French command to integrate allied units and optimize interoperability with them.
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