Today, Saturday, French Defense Minister Sebastien Licornu announced that his country will strengthen and modernize its military capabilities deployed in the Asia-Pacific region.
Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Defense and Security Forum known as the “Shangri-La Dialogue” in Singapore, the minister said, “Our partners have concerns about whether the crisis in Ukraine could distract us from the Indo-Pacific region and lead to the French Republic retracting its commitments in the Indo-Pacific region.” And calm down, that won’t happen.”
He explained, in his speech, that in the coming year, “France will continue to strengthen and modernize our capabilities by permanently deploying, by 2025, six new patrol ships in the Indo-Pacific region, including two in the Pacific Ocean this year, one in New Caledonia and the other in Polynesia.” To carry out “observation and sovereignty missions”.
In addition to the updated capabilities, France will deploy two ships to the region at the end of 2025, as the four existing patrol ships are now being replaced by a new model.
“Similarly, five Falcon (reconnaissance) aircraft in the Pacific will be replaced by five new, more modern aircraft,” he added.
For this year, he revealed the planning of a sovereign mission in the Pacific Ocean, called the Pegase 22, with the joint deployment of Rafale aircraft and A400M military transport aircraft.
He pointed out that the French forces will continue to participate in several multilateral exercises, some of which will be held to maintain “an important presence in the region to show France’s interest in the stability of the Asia-Pacific region.”
He stressed that the French strategy in the region “is not directed against any country” but supports multilateral defense arrangements.
Through this, France wants to join the defense organization, which includes the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and eight major powers in the region, including China and the United States, according to the minister.
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