Elite airborne units from the UK and France conducted their final joint exercises, which, according to media reports, marked the final stage of preparation for a potential deployment to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping operation.
According to The Telegraph, more than 600 personnel from the British Armed Forces’ 16 Air Assault Brigade, together with soldiers from the French 11e Brigade Parachutiste, practiced an airborne raid scenario at a training ground in Brittany. The exercise took place on February 24—the fourth anniversary of the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine—and was the culmination of Exercise Orion, a large-scale exercise involving approximately 2,000 military personnel from both countries.
According to the UK Ministry of Defence, the exercise scenario included supporting a NATO ally facing the threat of invasion and guerrilla warfare: practicing landings, seizing a beachhead, suppressing air defence systems, using modern communications systems and drones, and stabilisation operations.
Officially, London and Paris emphasize that these exercises prepare paratroopers for rapid deployment to any NATO area of responsibility. However, media outlets directly link these maneuvers to discussions of the possible deployment of multinational forces to Ukraine after a ceasefire and a peace agreement.
Experts note that the readiness of the two countries’ elite airborne brigades—the most mobile and combat-ready units of their ground forces—could become a key element of the “deterrent force” on Europe’s eastern flank in the post-conflict period.