L'arme aérienne : un outil décisif | Le journal de la Défense

[Music] more than 50 aircraft including around twenty fighter planes engaged more than 1000 allied French aviators we are on Mondeemsan air base at the heart of a Volfa air combat exercise the spirit of air combat is a small little always the same the goal is really combat planes which will try to shoot down each other in this Top Gun academy the fighter plane crews train to face today's threats together and of tomorrow we have felt for several years and finally a greater probability that the French forces will be engaged precisely in a context of high intensity after a long phase which was rather oriented towards asymmetric conflicts airspace as a battlefield aircraft as a tool combat from the audacity of the aces of the First World War to the high intensity operations of tomorrow the Air and Space Force continues its odyssey of 90 years of commitment during the Volfa exercise all the crews 'train in combat Commander Maxim is one of the most experienced pilots in his squadron with the RAF an Omir fighter plane he is capable of fulfilling all the missions of the Aires ensures the airborne nuclear deterrent mission but today they will both be mission leaders of a conventional air raid, it is an exercise which is very important since we have a huge number of resources deployed, we have training areas which are immense and we are not used to working with these areas on a daily basis the scenarios that are set up are of a very high tactical level with high intensity and it is very interesting to be able to train for missions of this type we will be in the air 28 in our role it's going to be to deliver scalp cruise missiles on targets which are defended against rair which are of an unknown number in the scenario but consistent [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] on the ground it's at the expert center of collaborative combat that the mission is played out here the positions of the 28 aircraft engaged are transmitted in real time with the L16 a tactical data link to the standard as the French and allied crews are permanently interconnected a vital tool for exchanging information and operate in coalition the objective of collaborative combat is to be able to group together connect all the participants the actors during a mission and so there we are really in a notion of collaborative combat that is to say that through a network which is of course secure all participants can meet in order to be able to operate their mission in the best situation thanks to collaborative combat the scriptwriters of the exercise direct the attacks from the ground in the air the Allies against together the threats the complex mission is pushed to its maximum as close as possible to high intensity with the Rafale we are capable of carrying out both bombing and aerial combat today we have done both at the same time with completeness of emissions which are assigned to the Rafal it is a real strength to be in a two-seater since well the plane is made in such a way that the front seat and the rear seat can work on completely different things today in the 'occurring I was in front 45 m from the sea at 1000 km/h firing an airol missile while my navigator behind is explaining to me what I needed to do next to fire missiles air in como aien enter first into the enemy zone neutralize the enemy fighter planes then the priority targets on the ground operate in coalition with a single objective Acquiring air superiority is something which is essential not only for the air raid but for the entire joint campaign who holds the top holds the bottom it is always true and it has been demonstrated throughout history until the most recent events agility is really the key word in terms of operational preparation to be able to adapt quickly and well to the crisis that will impose itself on us not in anticipation of a fixed operation but precisely by saying that it is still very difficult to predict the Gard of tomorrow anticipate the battles of tomorrow by leading them today on the Luxil air base the Mirag 2000-5 of the 12 Cogne fighter group ensures the permanent mission of French air security the air police in France they assist civil aircraft in difficulty but also go so far as to intercept them in 2023 the Air and Space Army has carried out nearly 900 interventions on alert on French territory the main mission is the protection of French territory for squadron uh and even if we actually don't know it or more for about 80 years uh well it's always the desire to have a high-performance tool for the defense of this territory and that requires daily training uh transmission yes That's really part of our profession, we have our entire progression phase and we have a continuous turnover of pilots, eh, it's a relatively demanding profession with very different career profiles so they must continually transmit their knowledge in such a way as to what the generation that takes over is at least the knowledge of the previous generation the goal is to always go a little further of course in luxuil as in montebsan the alert is permanent the objective for you it is to carry out all the procedures that you have been able to know and learn so far, from interception to remote recognition to visual observation and from air combat training to intervention in France the of the IL2 tax on February 24, 2022 while Russia invades Ukraine Commander Vincent takes off on alert from Montmisant that you please do his mission to ensure the security of the airspace of the utant to the Polish border we arrived it was in the middle of the night in a few minutes we were at the squadron and in a few hours we took off and the results in less than 6 hours after this famous phone call in less than 6 hours we were uh on the other side of Europe ready to respond depending on what could happen [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] pass into Estonia on the eastern side of Europe the mirages 2000-5 occur have been positioned on the front line for 20 years, France has been taking turns with its NATO allies to carry out the air policing mission of the Baltic countries, moving forward a little further for Lieutenant Robinson, this is a first nickel there was when even quite experienced leaders who had had the opportunity to do different missions so well, as a young pilot we base ourselves a lot on the experience of these people, we discuss a lot and we manage to see a little bit of the state of mind and the way of approaching one's missions even if in fact this context was very particular and similar to no other until then we Demand starts from my marçan that we go to the other end of Europe we were supported by an al 735 or MRTT refueling tanker that we joined which allowed us to acquire this extension by in-flight refueling and which accompanied us on these routes what we call IFR routes so the same routes as the airliners to go over the areas to ensure that our allies were protected to ensure the sovereignty of NATO airspace it was it was our job at that time in this framework there we are more likely to intercept military aircraft so the interceptions are carried out with two planes unlike the operational permanence where we are most of the time in a single plane flight plan filed transponder on radio contact confirmed if one of the three criteria n 'is not authenticated the mirages 2000-5 take off on alert to control suspicious aircraftand we felt there it's true that it always does we always have a little bit of this dose of adrenaline the goal is to quickly run to the planes to forget nothing and so I was equipped on this mission as a young pilot of the unit the advantage once again is that we have someone more experienced who guides who has already carried out this type interception to see a foreign fighter of this type is always quite impressive but we are really mechanized so in all cases we unfold what we have learned until then the planes were I say in the maximum configuration with the best systems with the best possible weapons ready to react and respond whatever could happen the goal of these interceptions is not at all in coming to the point of air combat is simply checking the identity of the aircraft of course we have a fighter plane an interceptor it's difficult to carry out these interceptions without weapons we don't have much room for error we can't afford to to aggravate the situation so we have to show professionalism and this training allows us to leave no room for improvisation and to have known procedures and work on a daily basis by RA to all of our pilots last year the Air and Space Force operated more than 400 air protection missions on the eastern flank of Europe there is another aspect which is very important it is the confidence that we will have in these teammates not only in the use of the weapons that they have in the very close, very rapid evolutions that we will see in each other in cases where there is has unforeseen things that's also why we VO and train together every day it's knowing others knowing our strengths knowing our weaknesses and being as calm as possible when we go to the station with someone combativeness is learned from the first steps or rather from the first flights by settling on the Cognac air base in 2018 the fighter aviation school modernizes its means with the arrival of the latest generation training aircraft the PC21 a new impetus for the school which trains more than 80 future fighter pilots per year among them Captain Corentin he is preparing for a combat mission in Ren but on a simulator of flight, from preparation to the briefing to the mission, in fact the goal is really to be immersed as if we were in flight before briefing this one, are there any questions on the previous laughing missions uh no it's clear everything is clear yes it works today so we have to maintain air superiority in an enemy zone and so my goal in fact is to do holding patterns and to deal with each RR threat that comes into this zone for eg my zone that's what combat is, that's the educational interest it's going to be timing management to push in on time so enter the zone and half for a certain timing at more or less 10 seconds and then after holding this place and this zone for 20 minutes and then afterwards I could leave often in all the modules and there particularly in the RR module we do a simulation a flight a simulation a flight since the arrival of the PC21 system 40% of fighter pilot training is carried out on the latest generation flight simulator [Music] helmet glove closing the canopy immersion is total for Corentin whether the flight is on a simulator or in the air conditioning remains the same the terrain information so runway 05 in service the terrain is blue foxcho 100 and a easterly wind for [Music] dinner here on PC21 we make decisions at 6 or 7g on Mirage 2000 will take them at 8 or 9 and then on burst to 10 or 11 so this ability to make decisions in a constrained environment is a singularity of modern air combat magicing gr po the complexity of modern air combat is the ability to process data flows which are massive tactical environments the nature of the threats the performance of friendly and enemy weapon systems requires processing a huge amount of data 20 minutes in the area you have to know how to prioritize to make the right decision firstly for yourself as a sailor then for his patrol his teammates and then for his entire system when we become on mission it is me who is already piloting you should know that most of the missions for educational interests we have an instructor behind to gain confidence we are sometimes solo but most of the time there is an instructor who is in the back seat. The challenge of today's mission was to teach four planes to fly for team members who had no previous experience. so far evolved only alone or in patrols of two planes so I had two trainees in the wings in the position of number 2 and number 4 and they discovered the training outfit at 4 with mission profiles weather management of transitions between visual flight instrument flight and therefore we were able to fly in quite demanding conditions which allowed them to consolidate their mastery of formation flying and to extend their skills within a patrol of four aircraft this which will be one of the bases of their know-how in flight combat unit the PC 21 also have [Music] combat simulation tools but this time the sensations are very real the simulated weapon system is very interesting because it allows us both to do RR combat and to do air combat and therefore with the PC2 we can begin to lay the basics of handling a radar, a warning detector, a jammer 'a data link all the tools that are necessary for learning the fundamentals of modern aerial combat allows us to already understand all these notions all these procedures that we will carry out later on a weapon aircraft it is necessary to insist on this distinction between a simple pilot and an air fighter the heart of the qualities of an air fighter is the ability to make decisions not sitting calmly at a desk with a cup of coffee but to make decisions in a Rafale kitty mirage cockpit with 8 9 10 or 11g to take while ordering the decisions which will guarantee the success of the mission which will guarantee the survival of the patrol in a hostile environment so that's what becomes more complex and which gives rise to numerous challenges from training and then training then on combat aircraft the complexity of threats and missions is the subject of modern air combat in my opinion [Music] for 80 years l The fighter aviation school presented the wings of more than 5,000 combat pilots today it was up to Corentin to receive his during the macarooning ceremony receiving my wings for me today was something very important thing there is a great feeling of pride necessarily to send our families during this type of ceremony it is also the accomplishment of many years of studies and training whether in prep and then later at the air school then after for the hunting training itself for our type of training so happy yes very happy at the same time another aviator from Cognac is rewarded for a mission he led with the rip a plane not like the others it is particularly intelligence on which the Riper crew was able to observe essential cinematics for the operations in progress and we were able to broadcast all the intelligence directly to the chain of command to then be able to have a very important in relation to the theater rudy is an intelligence officer and tactical coordinator his working tool the mq9 riper an extraordinary drone with a 20 m wingspan piloted remotely for 25 years these devices make the battlefield more transparent a revolution for French operations in a riper crew there are four members the first is the remote pilot there is he is assisted by the sensor operator and we will have a whole rear section with the intelligence operators namely the tactical coordinator and the operator image gentlemen hello everyone I remind you of the context of why we are going to be used on the mission today intelligence is essential in operations at the moment we are going to use the riper above a zone of operation its persistence in the area allows it to be there almost from the beginning to the end of an operation to be able to detect enemy kinematics to follow them and report and their attitudes to be able to characterize them and then and good to be able to transmit all this information to the chain of command their mission to inform, monitor and recognize they are the golden eyes of French operations since 2019 the riper is armed with an air missile if the heart of its mission is well informed thanks to its optics this capacity also allows it to take part in combat there is a bit of a paradoxical effect between the distance of the crew and the proximity of the images that we perceive the proximity of the missions that we do we are sensors which best see what is happening on the ground while we are perhaps those who are further away o people are involved in the mission from the start since they watch on the operation that t the days for several hours and they know well what is happening there and what are the consequences of their actions if the combat planes are Agil and reactive the drones are discreet and enduring there we left on a mission on what we briefed and in in fact we find ourselves doing something completely different for the moment because the situation changed during the mission suddenly events appeared and therefore inevitably we had to adapt we started a first part of the mission precisely in search of enemy elements we were already able to detect tanks and armored vehicles which belonged to the armed terrorist group we were able to report them directly to the Aircraft which is in charge of the maneuver and then we had information which which fell directly through the channels of communication that there was a car bomb attack at the level of the French embassy in the sovereign country so currently we have been precisely retasted in this position to be able to support the group that protects the French embassy ok I'll come back with you I had the defense attaché on the phone he asked me for a clip of the scene with the carcass so that he can have a 360 view of everyone the surroundings of what happened there in terms of the car bomb attack is where ultimately and well we will succeed in promoting this model since each of the crews knows exactly what they must do in each new situation the advantage of the riper is that it can be an absolutely essential element of the mission if the mission is focused on intelligence on the contrary the advantage of a means which is not directly manned is that it also has this expendable element and therefore if the mission requires it is an element that we can potentially lose without human loss that is also an important point to take into account then and in the fact that the name the environment and the field of the field of conflict is increasing we are a a a means which is which is particularly dependent on satellite links and the entirety of the networks since it is more technological in any case in terms of data link that others on the other side the fact of being able to verify anination very quickly and well that makes it possible to propose to the commander and directly to the political power uh an affirmation or an affirmation of the data which has been which has been disseminated by the enemy and that is extremely important uh in the current problem of communication of offensive communication to complement the intelligence capabilities of the drones it is the satellites which provide a global and constant vision of the battlefield if the space is not the theater of aerial combat it is indeed part of the new environment of conflict in exoatmospheric space there is no border you constantly come across all the users of exoatmospheric space who have the same rights that you therefore your partners who are civil or military and also your adversaries or your competitors who evolve in the same place the space is is the last high point of the battlefield therefore the observation point which is also a point of operational advantage over the combat or over the adversary and and therefore it is necessary to master if you master the high points normally you will have less difficulty winning the battle land environment air maritime cyber and space informational and electromagnetic field today conflicts 'included in 5 environments and battlefields all interconnected, military space operations essentially consist of providing the armed forces with the space services they need to operate in other areas to ensure freedom of action for soldiers, sailors and aviators. today is to guarantee the integrity of national space capabilities active defense is a is a concept which is borrowed from air defense in air defense there is active defense which is the mission that does every day the sky police for example we defend ourselves with by using force if necessary and by being ready to oppose a hostile action so we are talking about an active defense mission it consists only of protecting our interests in space which are today threatened or in any case potentially threatened by unfriendly actions and today maneuvers in space to escape a threat or to counter a threat are one of the new missions which have appeared with the creation of the command of space communication intelligence and protection of French interests space plays a crucial role for national defense but on earth it is the global geostrategic environment which deteriorates if the acceleration of innovations in the field of air combat is a tactical advantage it also represents new threats from which we must protect ourselves. The difficulty is that we must both develop the skill around these new offensive capabilities and we must also develop the shield to protect ourselves against these news these new weapons are the return of a high intensity war at the gates of Europe a type of war that we thought was over so this war also shows us the importance of having an air defense multilayer capable of engaging aircraft at very long distances and then also aircraft close to the front line to continue to face today's combat and anticipate the high intensity of tomorrow's armies French are based on a set of doctrines for the organization of human resources, training, support and equipment, what we call strategic depth, the strategic depth of France, it is due to the interoperability that we have developed between the Western armies for more than 70 years now none of our competitors who could become an adversary tomorrow have such an alliance network and do not have such recognizability with their possible allies in an engagement objectively military France even if it must effectively retain the capabilities to be able to defend itself and act alone the normal framework of its commitments and in particular high intensity commitment is that of the action in coalition with with allies with partners in particular with allies of the Western allies here we would not be alone with with the SCAF project it is between European allies that the air combat of the future French Air Force is being built, German and Spanish are together developing a system of systems including the heart is a new generation multirole combat aircraft coupled with an army of drones so to anticipate the conflicts of tomorrow the European wings of the air combat of the future are practicing today to deploy quickly and far in 48 hours until in the Indo-Pacific to protect the French everywhere [Music]