Over the last few years, the French Navy (Marine Nationale) has been stepping up the intensity and realism of its exercises. This year, it did it again with POLARIS 25, the service’s biggest exercise to prepare units for complex naval combat against one or more opponents of equal capability. As the exercise just ended, Naval News shares some initial insights.
As mentioned in a previous article, POLARIS 25 was a joint, combined and multi-domain exercise involving more than 3,000 French and foreign troops, over 20 surface ships and more than 40 aircraft in the Atlantic and Channel. From hybrid threats to amphibious action in a contested environment, from combat support to operational readiness exercises, POLARIS 25 offered a rare density of training for all the soldiers, units and staff involved. During this exercise, two forces were pitted against each other – Blue and Red – with relatively equal capabilities.
The exercise took place in two phases. The first phase, which lasted from May 12, to May 26, off the coasts of Brittany and Normandy, was devoted to offensives against defence infrastructures and installations, including naval bases. The second one took place between May 26 and June 15. It consisted mainly of naval combat followed by amphibious operations, which Naval News was able to preview.
A realistic and unrelenting scenario
During a press conference dedicated to POLARIS 25, Rear-Admiral Martinet, in charge of directing the exercise, and Rear-Admiral Bied-Charreton, in charge of the staff of one of the forces taking part in the exercise, shared the broad outlines of the scenario, the conditions of engagement and the involvement of unprecedented players to make the scenario even more realistic for the French Navy.
POLARIS 25 can be summarize in four keywords: Realism, freedom of action, multi-domain and innovation. The first is to preserve the fog of war and involve a credible scenario. The second establishes freedom of action for staff and commanding officers. The exercise was multi-domain, multi-field, which means that all areas of conflict were involved. And finally, the exercise provided an opportunity to train with the new systems acquired by the Navy, no longer as an experiment but fully embedded into tactical maneuvers.
The exercise director clearly emphasized the realistic nature of the scenario:
“The aim was to involve the vessels and personnel in a very high level of realism, with situations that sailors and staff might encounter in a high-intensity confrontation.”
Rear-Admiral Martinet
To achieve this, the rules were clear and no “cheating” was possible. The script director even spiced things up by not giving the same rules of engagement to the two opposing forces. As ethics and respect for international law are increasingly under attack, it is essential to take this into account.
The ‘cheating’ often allowed in exercises was not during this combat. If a ship was hit, its damaged systems remained out of service until the end of the exercise, or until it was repaired if possible. Similarly, if a vessel was sunk, it was permanently out of the exercise. This model also applied to logistics.
“In the scenario, ships sailed with their theoretical ammunition levels and other logistics. There were no “magic” reloads. The ship had to withdraw to reload with food or ammunition, either by refueling at sea or by reaching support points,”
Rear-Admiral Martinet.
As far as freedom of action was concerned, although there was an overall scenario to frame the exercise and set out the final objectives, that was as far as the script went. The two forces were ‘free’ in their tactical choices. The exercise therefore unfolded according to the decisions made. Each commanding officer chose his approach according to the tactical objectives set by his staff.
To coincide with a high level of intensity, the Marine Nationale drew heavily on current theatres of operation such as the Red Sea, the Baltic and the Black Sea, while thinking about new elements that did not occur but were highly probable. These included the involvement of a highly degraded environment and the presence of all fields and environments in the exercise: electronic warfare, cyber, informational influence, underwater, air and surface warfare.
“The scenario focused heavily on intangible fields, which can have a huge influence on tactical choices,” explains the exercise director. Public opinion was represented, as were social networks, and each action could have major repercussions.
Finally, on the subject of innovation, the admirals did not go into detail. They said that new systems such as unmanned vehicles, onboard data hubs and electronic warfare systems were being used in a fully integrated way.
New key players
In order to reflect reality as closely as possible, the French Navy has invited external players to broaden the scope of the exercise and test the response resources that the State could commit to support the fighting forces and other elements essential to the country’s logistics.
This includes the Merchant Navy, which is a first in France. At a parliamentary hearing, the Navy Chief of Staff stressed that he is trying to cross-fertilize experience between the two navies so that they know each other better and can work more closely together. It was in this context that twelve shipping companies took part in POLARIS 25, with whom several activities were carried out. The “blue force”, an ally in the scenario, placed sailors on Merchant Navy ships to understand how they operate and to establish a link with the force’s ships. It was also able to conduct escort exercises and carry out civilian submarine cable surveillance operations – elements that fit in perfectly with the day-to-day work of some of the French Navy’s vessels, whether in the Red Sea or the Black Sea.
The French Navy’s fleet support service, which is responsible for ship maintenance, was also heavily involved. It even called on the industry to come and reinforce them, for example to support affected ships and find solutions for damaged systems.
For phase 1 of the exercise, involving the protection of sensitive infrastructures and naval bases, elements of the police and gendarmerie forces were brought in to reinforce the French marine infantry units (known as Fusiliers marins) responsible for base protection. Once again, the aim was to bring together forces that rarely encounter each other but would do so in the event of a conflict.
POLARIS 25 was an opportunity for the French Navy to test its limits and take action by coordinating a multinational force with a high degree of realism that is rarely seen. The involvement of a variety of players added complexity to the scenario and added to the realism, which is what the French Navy is counting on, as the Admirals emphasized at the press conference. The unprecedented nature of this exercise, over and above its scale and the freedom of scenario it offered, was also demonstrated in practice on the field, with major assets committed and with which new steps were taken. The following article will look at the types of operations used and to some innovations, to support realism and prepare the units of the French Navy for what is known as high-intensity combat.
