The Île du Levant site of the French Defense Procurement Agency (DGA) recently hosted the fifth “Wildfire” exercise of the French Navy. French Navy. Since it was first held in 2022, “Wildfire” has steadily grown in importance. Its aim: to prepare naval crews for high-intensity conflicts and, in particular, for the fight against drones.
For an entire week, the crews were confronted with threats as in a high-intensity war scenario. These were as numerous as they were varied and came from both the sea and the air, usually simultaneously. The naval forces then had to detect, identify and neutralize them. For this to succeed, perfect coordination of all components and mastery of the available means is necessary. And this is exactly what is being trained in this exercise – under extreme conditions.
This time, six ships, including five frigates, and four helicopters, one of which was a NATO-helicopter, took part in the exercise. Compared to the first edition in 2022 – when only one frigate was involved – there were significantly more participants. The DGA was responsible for implementing the threats. A total of 26 remote-controlled air targets of the Snipe and Banshee type and nine remote-controlled sea targets of the Zodiac type were used. These targets were used to simulate drone attacks.
The scenarios played out during the exercise were prepared in advance in accordance with the requirements of the French Navy. These requirements have been significantly expanded over the past three years. The scenarios are examined, validated and implemented by the DGA.
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Scenario changes may also occur during the exercise. Depending on how the crews react to threats, the scenario may have to be changed. In this case, the navy will ask to change the trajectory of one of the targets on one of the ships. While this is not really a problem in terms of resources, it is much more complex to handle in terms of security. This is because artillery or small arms fire is carried out in real time from ships or helicopters on airborne or maritime targets, and all this in a limited but still quite extensive area.
Wildfire is now one of the most demanding exercises for the French armed forces. The crew of a frigate that took part in one of last year’s exercises reported that the training carried out served as very realistic preparation for the threats that arose. Following last year’s exercise, the aforementioned frigate was deployed as part of an operation to escort the aircraft carrier “Charles de Gaulle” in the Red Sea.
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