After a series of failures, France is planning to reduce the number of French troops in Africa and help the continent with training and equipment instead. Meanwhile, the largest-ever military exercise has been launched in France.

France is set to change its diplomatic and military strategy in Africa, Emmanuel Macron told a news conference before leaving for Africa on Wednesday to visit four countries in Central Africa, namely Gabon, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo.

Considérer les pays africains comme des partenaires avec qui nous partageons des intérêts et des responsabilités : ce cap, c’est celui que j’ai fixé á Ouagadougou en 2017. Nous l’avons tenu. Il est maintenant temps d’aller au bout de cette logique.https://t.co/LFT29HhSRu

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) February 27, 2023

In his post on Twitter, the French president addressed African countries as partners with whom France shares interests and responsibilities. Some experts highlighted that in the shadow of the Russia-Ukraine war, the French president is travelling to Africa in order to counter Russian efforts to supplant the French in the region.

Information published on the Defence Ministry’s website reveals that the French leadership intends to completely transform its military bases in Africa, with some of them functioning as academies in the future while others will remain military bases jointly managed by French and African staff.

The reorganisation of the French military in Africa follows two main lines: one is to reduce the number of French troops in Africa and the other is to increase France’s support to African states through training and equipment, the ministry says. In Africa, there are currently permanent French military bases in three countries, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal and Gabon, and around 3,000 troops in the Sahel Region.

Meanwhile, France is holding its largest military exercise in thirty years, named Orion 23. As V4NA reported earlier, the purpose of the multi-phase exercise is to prepare the thousands of participating soldiers for a potential war situation, including everything from information warfare to logistics and even space.

It is a fictitious war exercise that will be a real test for the French army, enabling soldiers to prepare for a possible high-intensity conflict against an enemy state, France 24 reports.

The exercise included a large-scale airborne landing in the southern province of Tarn on Saturday, 25 February, and continued on Sunday, 26 February with an amphibious landing of 700 troops and 150 vehicles on the Mediterranean coast.

Débarquement amphibie á Sète, suite de l’exercice #Orion23 #AFP pic.twitter.com/QpGOsLPiD8

— Daphne Benoit (@phnou) February 26, 2023

After decades of austerity, under the future Military Programming Law (LPM) Emmanuel Macron has pledged a budget of more than 400 billion euros for the armed forces for the period 2024-2030, a third more than the previous budget. With the LPM, the French government aims to modernise the army and replenish ammunition stocks. The latter is very much needed, as the ammunition stocks at the disposal of the French army are insufficient, a parliamentary report published on 15 February found. The situation would be worrying if a large-scale armed conflict were to take place.

The importance of the Orion 23 exercise is reflected in its giant price tag, estimated at around 35 million euros. The number of troops mobilised is also huge, with 12,000 soldiers reportedly taking part in the exercise, as well as 2,300 vehicles, 40 helicopters, around 100 drones, 30 naval installations, including the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.