Lawmaker: France Needs Attack Helicopters, Drones

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Lawmaker: France Needs Attack Helicopters, Drones
By pierre tran
Published: 4 Sep 11:38 EDT (15:38 GMT)

PARIS - The French army urgently needs a third Caracal utility helicopter and three Tiger attack helicopters, reconnaissance drones and special forces troops to increase intelligence gathering and boost autonomy from the allied coalition in Afghanistan, a senior legislator said Sept. 4.

Aeromobility assets would give "eyes to our combatants and give support on the ground," Guy Teissier, chairman of the National Assembly defense committee, told a news conference after returning from a parliamentary visit to French troops in Afghanistan.
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A deployment of three Tiger combat helicopters should be made "as soon as possible," he said.

Teissier said three were largely sufficient in the region in which French troops are stationed. A third EC725 Caracal helicopter would back up the duo operating from Kabul, as these aircraft operate in pairs. The Caracal is equipped for combat search and rescue and for special forces use.

France draws on coalition assets, but the French army needs independence in unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance and "very quickly," he said.

Besides the equipment, better human intelligence was also needed, hence the need for sending back special forces troops, Teissier said.

There was no need to increase troop numbers in the Afghan campaign, but there was a pressing necessity for more equipment.

Teissier talked to command officers and soldiers in the ranks to find out about conditions. The visit was made in the wake of public concern over the deaths of 10 French soldiers following an Aug. 18 ambush by Afghan guerrilla fighters.

France needed to decide on a "hierarchy" of priorities as the army is deployed in five major theaters: Afghanistan, Chad, Lebanon, Ivory Coast and Kosovo, he said. Thought had to be given to an efficient relief of troops in Afghanistan, he said.

Laurent Teisseire, ministry of defense spokesman, told journalists it was too early to say what assets would be sent to Afghanistan. The government would give details of deployment at a Sept. 22 National Assembly debate on Afghanistan, which will be closed by a vote.

"The process of recommendation is being finalized," he said.

An army spokesman said the Tiger is "a sophisticated, complex weapon system, for which a concept of operations is being validated."

As soon as the operational doctrine is validated, it will be engaged, he said.

France is not at war, as Paris operates under a U.N. mandate, alongside an international coalition and at the request of the Afghan government to help stabilize the country, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner has said.

A French army officer said because France is formally engaged in a stabilization mission, it has not deployed the equipment needed for the new combat mission. In relieving the French patrol pinned down in the ambush, instead of sending two Black Hawks with reinforcements, a proper response would have been at least 10 or more aircraft with troops to overwhelm the insurgents, he said.

Source
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3707443&c=EUR&s=TOP