France’s army faces deterrence test against Putin’s Russia

LILLE, France — Next year will prove a crucial test for the French army as it transforms into a force able to face Russia.

In May, French soldiers will participate in a large-scale military exercise in Romania dubbed Dacian Spring 2025 that will assess their ability to swiftly move to NATO’s eastern flank. It’s a key competence should Russian President Vladimir Putin decide to attack an alliance member.

“We used to play war. Now there’s a designated enemy, and we train with people with whom we’d actually go to war,” the head of the army’s land command for Europe, General Bertrand Toujouse, told reporters on Friday.

Exercises like the Dacian Spring “are a strategic signal,” he added.

In the past few years, France’s land forces have started a “profound transformation” to be ready for a high-intensity conflict similar to the war in Ukraine. The French army also has new marching orders from NATO: By 2027 it should be able to deploy a war-ready division in 30 days, including ammunition and supplies.

Moving toward that goal is at the heart of next year’s Dacian Spring exercise, top officers explained. The French army will train to send a war-ready brigade to Romania in 10 days — a intermediary step that, if successful, will reaffirm France’s credibility with NATO allies and pave the way to reach the 2027 objective.

A brigade has between 3,000 and 5,000 soldiers, while a division has from 10,000 to as many as 25,000.

The key challenge will be to get to Romania in such a short period of time. “There is still no military Schengen, and we need to decisively improve military mobility in Europe,” said General Pierre-Eric Guillot, Toujouse’s deputy, echoing concerns previously expressed by his boss.

A 2022 first deployment of troops to Romania was dogged by red tape, border procedures and trains not suited to military equipment. Countries have worked to iron out such snarls.

“We may still be hampered by a few customs measures, but we’ve made a lot of progress in diversifying our routes,” Guillot told reporters. The military used to rely only on trains, but now is also moving troops and equipment with trucks and boats, sometimes even combining different transport methods.

Toujouse added he’s confident French soldiers will pass next year’s test.

To meet the 2027 goal, however, defense spending will need to keep meeting France’s non-binding, seven-year military planning law, General Pierre Schill, the French army’s chief, warned.

The defense budget is under pressure as France’s new government tries to rein in the country’s deficit.

“I expect the planned resources to be there in full,” Schill said. “If there are major changes, at some point we may delay [the 2027 objective], saying that there aren’t enough stocks to take them into combat.”

“But that’s fiction. That’s only a hypothesis,” he added. At least for now.