Defense relations between Great Britain and France are to be intensified again. That was a result of the summit meeting between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and President Emmanuel Macron on March 10 at the Elysée Palace. There hadn't been a summit like this for five years.
Following this meeting, the French Ministry of Defense said in its weekly press conference: "Cooperation in the defense sector is the most structuring element in Franco-British relations," said Colonel Bruno Cunat of the Department of International Relations and Strategy of the Ministère des Armées. Despite Brexit in 2020 and the AUKUS alliance of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States the following year, France and Britain are more military allies than ever.
Photo: UK MoD, RAF, Ryan Murray
Lancaster House Treaties
Today, according to the French staff officer, this "historic partnership" is based above all on the bilateral Lancaster House agreements of 2010 and on the common affiliation to NATO. On November 2, 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron and President Nicolas Sarkozy signed agreements in London's Lancaster House intended to promote closer cooperation in the armaments sector, in the armed forces and to cut costs in the defense budget.
France considers the bilateral treaty on nuclear weapons research and the maintenance of nuclear arsenals to be of particular importance. In this context, Colonel Cunat referred to the meeting between Macron and Sunak, where both leaders stressed "that there is no situation in which the vital interests of France or the United Kingdom could be threatened without the other country's being threatened as well be". It can be assumed that this statement is also a reaction to Russia's nuclear threats in connection with its war of aggression against Ukraine.
Photo: Ministere des Armées
Bei einem weiteren Vertrag von 2010 geht es um die militärische Zusammenarbeit im konventionellen Bereich. Diese ruht auf zwei „Säulen“: der operativen und derjenigen der Fähigkeiten. Zur operativen Säule gehört unter anderem die schnelle Eingreiftruppe „Combined Joint Expeditionary Force“ (CJEF), zu der Frankreich und Großbritannien jeweils 5.000 Soldaten beitragen. Die CJEF, so der französische Stabsoffizier, „soll eine bestimmte Anzahl von Aufgaben erfüllen können, die von der Hilfe für Bevölkerungen bis zum Erscheinen auf dem Gefechtsfeld für Operationen hoher Intensität reichen“. Ein weiteres Beispiel ist die Verlegung von Truppenteilen nach Estland und Litauen im Rahmen der NATO.
The capabilities pillar deals with cooperation in the development, procurement and financing of armaments. The aim of the French procurement authority DGA (Direction Générale de l'Armement) and its British counterpart DE&S (Defence Equipment and Support) is to strengthen the industrial and technological basis in the defense sector. Examples of this are the "One MBDA" project with branches in both states as centers of excellence, the next generation of anti-ship missiles and cruise missiles FMAN/FMC (FuturMissile Antinavirus/FutureMissile de Croisiere) by MBDA, the program “MaritimeMine countermeasures"(MMCM)from Thales and BAE Systems, and the CTA 40mm (Case Telescoped Armament) cannon from Nexter and BAE Systems.
As for the ongoing politico-military dialogue between France and Great Britain, according to Colonel Cunat, "the closeness of these relations and their nature are irreversible, especially given that an armed conflict is currently taking place in Europe".
Photo: UK MoD, Matthews
Review
The French staff officer referred to the fact that military cooperation between the two countries went back "more than 100 years", which is a clear understatement: "The 1820s", according to sea captain Julien Lalanne de Saint-Quentin in this context , deputy naval attaché at the French Embassy in London, "see for the first time the French and British armies fighting on the same side during the Greek War of Independence." colonial disputes. And on March 26, 1918, the Grand Headquarters of the Allied Armies was set up under the supreme command of Marshal Ferdinand Foch.
Gerd Portugall
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