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| Europe |
| French tanks join NATO defensive line in Romania |
| 2022-12-10 |
| [An Nahar] Freshly arrived at Cincu army training camp, 120mm cannons loaded on French tanks are already booming out across the muddy firing range as NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... bolsters its forces in Romania, a member country bordering Ukraine. "The Ukrainian crisis shows that what's going on in the east can threaten all of Europe. We're showing that NATO is present, united and ready for anything," says Alexandre de Feligonde, a French colonel leading a battalion of troops from different countries in central Romania. As lead nation for the alliance's "Enhanced Forward Presence" deployment in Romania, La Belle France has just sent around 20 armored personnel carriers and 13 Leclerc tanks. The menacing 56-tonne battle tanks can fire six shells a minute at ranges of up to 6,000 meters (3.7 miles) -- even on the move. Development on the Leclerc was begun during the Cold War, when NATO was tooling up for "high-intensity" conflict with its Warsaw Pact opposite numbers led by the Soviet Union. Alliance members' return to preparations for such a war, after years fighting totally different conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, have been stepped up since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. French tanks were previously deployed to Estonia and Lithuania, NATO members bordering Russia, but the sudden attack has turned Romania into a new front-line state. The French-led battalion now numbers around 700 men. Most are French and around 80 are Dutch. Facilities are being built to host the target number of 1,200. - 5,000 NATO SOLDIERS - As well as flying the NATO flag on the alliance's southeastern flank, the deployment aims to get the different armies working better together. "We have to train together to be credible" as a combined fighting force, de Feligonde says, watching from a hill as the tanks fire salvoes of shells in a joint exercise with the Dutch and Romanians. "There is a language barrier with the French but we have the same procedures. It is easier than I thought," said Lieutenant Wietse of the Dutch force. Romania currently hosts around 5,000 foreign troops, the largest contingent anywhere in NATO's southeastern region. Some are based at the Black Sea airfield of Constanta, around 400 kilometers (250 miles) as the crow flies from the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. One corner of the base bristles with light armored vehicles, and Chinook and Apache helicopters belonging to a brigade of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division. Further north, just 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, French troops arrived earlier this year to beef up air defenses. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 The Poilu, the average French soldier, is a good trooper. Their high commanders ...does the old phrase 'lions led by jackasses' ring a bell? Their politicians? *Heh* Lie to your face with perfect poise. |
| Posted by: magpie 2022-12-10 17:16 |
| #3 Relax Abu; takes a while to get there driving in reverse. /no fair, understand LeClerc is a good platform. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2022-12-10 13:17 |
| #2 Yeah, I always feel more secure when the French are involved. Sure I do. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2022-12-10 12:46 |
| #1 It is interesting to observe that of the less than 1,000 Leclerc tanks built France: 222 + 17 armoured recovery vehicles and the UAE: 354 tanks. The UAE has some battle history in Yemen using theirs... |
| Posted by: magpie 2022-12-10 00:54 |