Major Cuts In France's Defense Budget

Up to 34,000 French military posts will be lost over the next six years as the French military tightens its belt. Diarra / Reuters

Grim Economics Shape France’s Military Spending -- New York Times

PARIS — France will effectively freeze its military spending for the next several years, cutting nearly 10 percent of defense jobs while using more money for high-tech equipment, in a bid to maintain its ability to conduct overseas operations like the one in Mali, the government said Monday.

A strategic review, the first since 2008, tries to reconcile France’s weak economic growth and declining budgets with its ability to take unilateral military action, preserve its nuclear deterrent, and improve its intelligence and cybersecurity.

While spending about 1.5 percent of its gross domestic product on defense, France will remain Europe’s No. 2 in military spending behind Britain. Britain is shrinking its armed forces to 82,000, the lowest number since the Battle of Waterloo, while trying to keep its own nuclear deterrent.

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More News On Major Cuts In France's Defense Budget

Crisis-Hit France To Cut Armed Forces By 10 Percent -- Defense News/AFP
France to cut 24,000 military jobs, seeking savings as economic crisis looms -- Washington Post/AP
France, keen to boost military strength, avoids defence cuts -- Reuters
Hollande to Trim French-Army Size, Freeze Defense Spending -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Massive job and budget cuts announced for French military -- RFI
France's foreign firepower threatened by budget cuts -- Reuters

France's Foreign Military Obligations Are Threatened By Budget Cuts

On the ground as French troops train Mali's army. BBC

France's Foreign Firepower Threatened By Budget Cuts -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Explosions echo through a valley in southern France, sending up plumes of smoke as four Caesar self-propelled guns fire at distant targets in drills that mirror operations in Mali.

It's a show of firepower organized by arms manufacturer Nexter to demonstrate the guns to the press and which underlines the role of the army in a conflict that has bolstered France's standing as a nation that can project military force. Yet the message may fall on deaf ears in Paris.

France's 31 billion euro ($40 billion) defense budget, already watered down in recent years, could be on the chopping block as President Francois Hollande seeks savings to offset a groaning deficit and weak economic growth.

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My Comment: It looks like France will not be in a position to conduct military operations like Mali in the future.

No Embeds Permitted In The French Military

A French soldier takes up position outside Markala in central Mali in January in one of the initial actions to root out Islamist rebels. Uniforms are still pretty clean. (Joe Penney / Reuters)

Brian Stewart: Europe's Army? Guess What, It's The French -- CBC

France's military has sharp uniforms, mystique and a score of quiet successes. They eat well, too.

I've always been interested in the French army's ability to speed elite forces into foreign operations with a unique blend of stylish panache and secrecy.

You'll have seen the latest example in France's current operation in Mali against al-Qaeda linked insurgents who, back in January, were threatening to take over the beleaguered sub-Sahara nation.

There, in quick sequence, you had sharply tailored French units arriving and the world's media given brief photo-ops of the first moves toward combat in the country's rugged north.

Malians seemed grateful, the UN approved, French pride soared.

It was an impressive display. Then, right on cue, the curtain of secrecy slammed down.

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My Comment: The French military and the French Foreign Legion are impressive military organizations. How they have handled themselves in Afghanistan and in the many conflicts of French Africa is a heads-up on how a professional and effective military organization should work.

Is France's Military The Best In Europe?

The flag-draped coffin of French lieutenant Damien Boiteux of the 4th helicopter special forces regiment, who was killed during the French intervention in Mali, is carried by pallbearers into the courtyard of the Invalides during a national ceremony of homage in Paris, on January 15, 2013. (Reuters/Philippe Wojazer)

Europe's Army? -- Paul Ames, Global Post

French military prowess isn't always fully appreciated in the United States.

But there are few troops anywhere in the world better prepared for their task than the marines, foreign legionaries, and other elite French units rolling north to confront the Jihadist militants controlling much of Mali.

"The French special forces are tip top, they're up there with the best of them," says Brooks Tigner, chief policy analyst at Security Europe, a specialist newsletter.

"They also have vast experience in expeditionary forces in West Africa," he adds. "They really know the territory, the boundaries, the topography and the ethnic problems. They are very well placed."

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My Comment: The French Foreign Legion and their special forces have always been underestimated by many in the States and elsewhere .... and it has been totally undeserving. Aside from the British, the Germans (maybe) and Russia's special forces .... the French have some of the best soldiers in Europe, and in today's North Africa they are the best.

Fury Over French Soldier Pictured Wearing 'Death's Head' Facemask

Death's Head: This picture of a French soldier wearing a Call of Duty style facemask has prompted a furious outcry

Fury Over French Soldier Pictured Wearing Call Of Duty-Style Grinning Skeleton 'Death's Head' Facemask While Serving In Mali -- Daily Mail

* Death's head mask is worn by Call of Duty character Ghost
* French trooper was wearing one to protect himself from helicopter dust
* French military chiefs said it was 'unacceptable behaviour'
* Around 2,000 French soldiers currently in Mali fighting Islamic hardliners
* Prince Harry claimed video games made him 'useful' as helicopter gunner
* Security experts raise concerns over weakness of Mali army

A French soldier has sparked outrage after being pictured wearing a grinning skeleton facemask like one featured in the ultra-violent computer game Call of Duty while serving in Mali.

Military authorities have launched an investigation to discover the soldier's identity after he was photographed using the mask, also known as a death's head, to protect himself from dust kicked up by a helicopter.

The trooper is one of an estimated 2,000 French soldiers sent to the west African nation to fight hardline Islamic extremists who seized control last year.

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My Comment: I love the reaction from the embedded photographer (Issouf Sanogo from Agence France Press) when told of the impact that his photo had caused ....

.... 'I don’t know who the soldier is, and I would have trouble recognizing him if I saw him again. I believe, and I hope, that it will be impossible to identify him.'

I hope he is right.

French Carrier Charles De Gaulle Is No Longer Seaworthy

May 16, 2001: The USS Enterprise CVN-65 and the Charles de Gaulle R-91 in the Mediterranean Sea. Photo from Maritime Quest

Sinking Fast: French Aircraft Carrier Set To Defend Britain Breaks Down -- The Daily Mail

The French aircraft carrier which is set to play a key role in defending Britain over the next decade has broken down.

As President Nicolas Sarkozy prepares to use a London summit this week to announce that RAF jets will fly from the carrier Charles de Gaulle, his naval chiefs have told him that she is no longer seaworthy.

‘She is meant to be heading to Afghanistan but is instead in her home port with a faulty propulsion system,’ said a French Navy source.

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My Comment: So much for the French navy being a factor in any future naval requirement or engagement.

French Muslim Troops Refuse Afghan Duty

An Afghan National Policeman fires a rocket-propelled grenade during a live-fire exercise near Beshud, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, on Feb. 13. The range is for U.S. forces to evaluate the ANP on their marksmanship skills. SPC. JUSTIN FRENCH / ARMY

From Military.com:

French Muslim soldiers have refused to serve in Afghanistan, saying their faith forbids them from fighting fellow Muslims, a military spokesman confirmed to AFP.

"The refusal to be assigned to a mission for religious reasons is a micro-phenomenon concerning fewer than five cases per year," said Colonel Benoit Royal, confirming a report on the website of left-wing daily Liberation.

Liberation's respected "Defence Secret" blog reported Wednesday that an infantry soldier in eastern France had in October refused to be stationed in Afghanistan but later agreed, after meeting with a Muslim chaplain.

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My Comment: Are Muslims saying the same thing in other Nato military organizations?