The war in Ukraine questions the operating methods of the French special forces

While the war in Ukraine questions the doctrines of all the armies of the world, the Special Operations Command (COS), which celebrated its thirtieth anniversary on Friday June 24, is no exception to the rule. Even if, at this stage, no public element makes it possible to support any engagement of the French special forces on Ukrainian territory, the conflict and its international repercussions are nonetheless shaking up the very specific operating methods of the special forces (FS ) French. “We are in the process of resuming the whole doctrine of gray areas”confided in May, during a press briefing, General Bertrand Toujouse, at the head of the COS since September 2021.

Since its creation in the aftermath of the war in Iraq, in 1992, at the same time as the direction of military intelligence, the COS has, in fact, specialized in the fight against terrorism, to the point of having acquired recognized competence in the release of hostages or the “targeting” of jihadist leaders. But with the evolution of terrorist violence in Africa, increasingly “insurgent”, and the return of war in Europe, “the COS enters its fourth life”believes General Toujouse.

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After a “first life” built around commando actions in the Balkans, in Somalia, or in Rwanda ; after the experience of the Afghan theater from the 2000s where the COS rode its model composed of both elite units from the air force, the navy, and the army – a specificity French; after a “third life” which started with the “Serval” operation in Mali in 2013, the French FS must now ” accelerate the transition out of a very expeditionary model and focus on contesting power”, summarizes the general.

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“Competition-dispute-confrontation”

Concretely, for the COS, this amounts to being able to respond to a possible latent confrontation with other States, but below the threshold of armed violence. A situation that could lead it to develop missions in theaters other than the Sahel or the Levant, its current main areas of intervention – and therefore, potentially, in Europe. In this case, the special forces could in passing be led to develop modes of action to which they had less recourse until now, such as discreet reconnaissance, sabotage or the more or less assumed display of partnership with armed groups. .

While the Chief of the Defense Staff (CEMA), General Thierry Burkhard theorized the current geopolitical evolution in a triptych “competition-contestation-confrontation”, “special forces have the means to position themselves across this spectrum”considers Colonel Laurent Bansept, seconded today to a research post at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), after having spent most of his career in special operations.

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