France is Deploying About 20 Aircraft in the Indian and Pacific Oceans This Summer
The French army announced, on Wednesday, that it will deploy this summer about twenty aircraft, including Rafale planes, in the Indian and Pacific oceans, as President Emmanuel Macron wants to make France a “balancing force” between China and the United States.
“From June 25 until August 3, the Air and Space Force will send about twenty aircraft from France to deploy them in the closest location to its territory in the Indian and Pacific oceans,” he said in a statement.
The mission, dubbed “Pegas 23”, will involve 320 pilots, ten Rafale jets, five E330MRTT Phoenix cargo planes and four E400M planes. They will make 11 stops in ten countries to exchange with 14 partner militaries.
After a technical stop at the French air base in the United Arab Emirates, the mission will take part in July in “maneuvers from Guam and Hawaii” in parallel with “deployment of forces to New Caledonia and French Polynesia.”
From July 24 to August 3, “there will be stops on the way back in South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Qatar and Djibouti,” with “joint exercises” and discussions, particularly on space, humanitarian aid and disaster management.
Emmanuel Macron has made what Western diplomats call the “Indo-Pacific” a strategic priority, a vast region stretching from the coasts of eastern Africa to the western coasts of the United States, where France has many land and sea areas.
France maintains most of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the second largest in the world, around seven regions from Reunion Island to New Caledonia and Tahiti, where 1.65 million French citizens live.
In September 2021, Paris received a severe blow after the conclusion of the AUKUS alliance between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, which prompted Canberra to cancel a huge contract to purchase twelve French conventional submarines that were to be built in Australia.
Canberra decided to buy US or British nuclear-powered submarines instead, a big change for a country with weak atomic capabilities.
Source : annahar.com
