IGX

Some of that is the result of moving to an all-volunteer force, as France did in 1996, which has made the military smaller but more professional. But the bulk of the problem is that the Defense Ministry spends €7.6 billion ($10.2 billion) on retirees—roughly 20% of its budget, euros that are effectively taken away from war-fighting needs.

The result is an increasingly hollow military. On paper France has 230,000 men and women in uniform, but only 30,000 are estimated to be deployable on six months notice.

France does spend money on modern weaponry: Since 2009, one of the few pieces of equipment that saw an upward revision in planned inventory through 2014 is Dassault's twin-engine Rafale fighter jet, of which France already has more than 70, with plans for nearly 160 more.

But militaries need the not-so-sexy stuff, too, and here Paris has been shortchanging its soldiers for years. French infantrymen must now deploy with barely half the number of logistical transport vehicles the military had planned four years ago. French diplomats spent the first week of the Malian intervention haggling with the U.S., Canada and Britain for American-made C-17s to transport soldiers and gear to Mali.

France has no C-17s, though for nearly a decade it has had an order in for 50 A400-M cargo planes. The A400-M (aka the Airbus "Atlas") is a joint project of several European governments, whose inability to pay for it has delayed the program repeatedly. The A400-M can handle only about half the payload of a C-17.

France is also still hunting for more air-refueling tankers to back up its small fleet of aging KC-135s, which are the only way its Rafales can carry out attacks throughout northern Mali. The U.S. hasn't agreed to help on that one. Again, Paris has an order in for 14 new Airbus 330s to replace its tankers, but this purchase was postponed in 2010.

Refueling capacity is one of the many areas covered in France's 2010 "Defense and Cooperation Treaty" with the U.K., through which the allies were meant to make up the growing holes in each other's military capabilities should the need arise. But now that the need is there in Africa, British defense officials say they have no tankers to spare.

Bobby wrote:Not uncommon here in Europe.We haven`t even got 1 artillery piece here (Sweden).The secretary of defence believes that the biggest problem we have is (wait for it):no woman general!
Guess what gender our secdef is?

Composition

- L'état-major de la 11e brigade parachutiste (11e BP) de Balma
- Le 1er régiment de chasseurs parachutistes (1er RCP) de Pamiers
- Le 1er régiment de hussards parachutistes (1er RHP) de Tarbes
- Le 1er régiment du train parachutiste (1er RTP) de Toulouse
- Le 17e régiment du génie parachutiste (17e RGP) de Montauban
- Le 2e régiment étranger de parachutistes (2e REP) de Calvi
- Le 3e régiment de parachutistes d'infanterie de marine (3e RPIMa) de Carcassonne
- Le 8e régiment de parachutistes d'infanterie de marine (8e RPIMa) de Castres
- Le 35e régiment d'artillerie parachutiste (35e RAP) de Tarbes

Effectif : 8 500 parachutistes

Bobby wrote:Not uncommon here in Europe.We haven`t even got 1 artillery piece here (Sweden).The secretary of defence believes that the biggest problem we have is (wait for it):no woman general!
Guess what gender our secdef is?

Bobby wrote:Not uncommon here in Europe.We haven`t even got 1 artillery piece here (Sweden).The secretary of defence believes that the biggest problem we have is (wait for it):no woman general!
Guess what gender our secdef is?

Luke wrote:But in general, with everyone in the public eye having to apologize for what they say/do. I don't remember society in general being like this even 10 years ago? Sure there were dickheads but it just didn't seem to be everywhere. This liberal consciousness is everywhere and they're being the thought police.

Terry B. wrote:

Luke wrote:But in general, with everyone in the public eye having to apologize for what they say/do. I don't remember society in general being like this even 10 years ago? Sure there were dickheads but it just didn't seem to be everywhere. This liberal consciousness is everywhere and they're being the thought police.

I don't know that it's a shift in society as much as the advent of new technology that:

a). allows dickhead statements to spread to a wider audience at a faster rate than ever before
and
b). allows people to comment on these statements in a somewhat interactive format

10-15 years ago, 95% of the stories that major cable news networks run or news agencies report, would have never made the evening news nor the morning newspapers.

Drew0786 wrote:Has anyone notified Germany???

Drew0786 wrote:Has anyone notified Germany???

Holeyfraggaroley wrote:The French should just give the fuck up, oh wait they did.

They should just bolster the Legion, keep the GIGN and say fuck it the rest. The Legion strikes fear into people, partly because they are not French. Yes I know there are French guys and they speak French. They should probably change that. All can think of, when it comes to French, "I Fart in your general direction you wipers of other peoples bottoms!". France's Anti Terror unit sounded like they were pretty kick ass way back when. Don't know if that is the case now.

The Swedes can do all kinds of crazy shit, because who would want to invade them? I like Sweden, seems a nice place, but its too damn cold. Let them get more awareness of women. Have special commando units of women where they all hit their period at the same time. Tell them their ass is fat and let them go. There would be dead bodies all over. Viking bersekers.

powerlifter54 wrote:

Drew0786 wrote:Has anyone notified Germany???

The Germans are doing their part in Northern Afghanistan.