Act. react. and. 12 th Summer Defence Conference. Bordeaux. Mérignac. Monsieur François HOLLANDE President of the French Republic.

Transcription

1 12 th Summer Defence Conference Under the high patronage of Monsieur François HOLLANDE President of the French Republic Chaired by Patricia ADAM Member of parliament from Finistère, Chairwoman of the Parliament Committee on National Defence and Armed Forces and Jean-Louis CARRERE Senator from Landes, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces in the presence of Jean-Yves LE DRIAN French Defence Minister Act and react Bordeaux & 8I9 Mérignac MONDAY/TUESDAY September 2014

2 Monday From 5:30 Welcome and check-in at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport. 7:00 Departure by special plane to Bordeaux-Mérignac airport. 9:00 Static exhibition and dynamic demonstration at the Air Base 106 of Bordeaux-Mérignac. Speach of Alain JUPPE, Mayor of Bordeaux, President of urban community of Bordeaux, formal prime minister. Speach of General Denis MERCIER, Chief of Staff French Air Force This year s demonstrations will be organised by the Air Force at Bordeaux Mérignac air force base. The objective is to show armed forces responsiveness, in particular thanks to command and control (C2) capabilities which make it possible to conduct operations remotely in real time, both in France and in theatres of operations abroad. 12:15 Transfer to the Convention Center 13:00 Lunch 14:30 Workshops 1 Geostrategic consistency and nuclear components. 2 Command and control centres (C2), a structuring strategic challenge. 3 Operational maintenance: different thinking? 4 Afghanistan, Côte d Ivoire, Libya, Mali, Central African Republic: ten-year perspective of external commitments. 5 The strategic assets of mastering the third dimension. 16:30 Meeting Forum 1 Presentation of the findings of the report Doctrine for the use of Special Forces 2 Presentation of the findings of the report Regional issues in the Gulf of Guinea and conflict prevention 3 Presentation of the findings of the fact-finding mission on the scheme to support arms exports 4 Presentation of the findings of the fact-finding mission on Evolution of the military posture in Africa and monitoring of current operations 17:30 Back to hotels (since all the hotels are five minutes by foot, buses will be provided only when necessary). 19:30 Transfer to the Aerocampus, in Latresne. 20:15 Official speeches. Aérocampus Alain ROUSSET, Member of Parliament for Gironde, President of the Aquitaine Regional Council. Patricia ADAM, Member of Parliament for Finistère, Chairwoman of the Parliament Committee on National Defence and Armed Forces Jean-Louis CARRERE, Senator from the Landes, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces 20:45 Dinner cocktail Aérocampus (from 22 :00 buses back to the hotels). 22:00 After-dinner event Aérocampus

3 8:30 Breakfast-debate 10:00 Plenary session 12:00 Official speeches 13:00 Official lunch A leading international expert will address current European or international issues from his viewpoint. To ensure that we devote our morning to a topical issue, the theme of the breakfast discussion and the speakers will be decided in July only. This plenary session will focus on major themes determining the policy and strategy of the Defence ministry, as well as current issues of the Defence Committees for the year to come. To stay as close as possible to current issues, the theme of the plenary session and the speakers will be decided in July only. The plenary session will be preceded by a presentation devoted to lessons learned from recent operations by the armed forces. Eric TRAPPIER, Dassault aviation President Patricia ADAM, Member of Parliament for Finistère, Chairwoman of the Parliament Committee on National Defence and Armed Forces Jean-Louis CARRERE, Senator from the Landes, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces Jean-Yves LE DRIAN, French Defence Minister 14:30 Departure to Bordeaux-Mérignac airport 16:00 Flights leave for Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle Tuesday Or post-conference visits Visit of the assembling chain of Rafale to the Dassault factory in Mérignac Inauguration and visit of ADS-UAV Show on Air Base 106 of Bordeaux-Mérignac Visit of the industrial site of SAFRAN-Heraklès in the Haillan and Saint-Médard-en-Jalles 18:00 Departure to Bordeaux-Mérignac airport 19:30 Flights leave for Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle

4 Workshop 1 Geostrategic consistency and nuclear components Co-chaired by Jean-Pierre CHEVENEMENT, Vice-Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and National Defence committee and Serge GROUARD, Deputy of Loiret The Deterrence function is one of the cornerstones of French defence policy. The balance achieved and maintained until now between nuclear strategy, on the one hand, and all the conventional action strategies on the other hand reinforces the credibility of France. Should this balance evolve to take the new international context into account, as well as new forms of conflict? The nuclear doctrines of the major powers are different ( first use or not): For what reason? Will these doctrines evolve? Taking this forward-looking framework into account, what are the advantages, from the French viewpoint, of complementarity between the naval component and the airborne component of deterrence? What are the links between this complementarity and the structuring of conventional forces? Where are the connections from the viewpoint of innovation, training, responsiveness, today Nuclear power appears to be one of the foundations of responsiveness, but also of the capability of the armed forces to maintain operations over time. To take only the example of the air force, the high level of training-related requirements for nuclear squadrons has a positive impact on their general capabilities. Beyond the example of a given component, the issue here is indeed the overall strategic coherence of French defence policy. Workshop 2 Command and control centres (C2), a structuring strategic challenge Co-chaired by Daniel REINER, Senator - Foreign Affairs & Defence Committee and Nicolas BAYS, Deputy National Defense and armed force committee In the future, military power will depend on conceptual innovation, both from a tactical and from a strategic viewpoint, and on the aptitude to use all environments, components and capabilities. This joint know-how gives rise to complex planning processes and well-controlled joint-force coordination. That is why the command and control centres (C2) are a structuring element for the future of the French armed forces. Mastering the C2 issue makes it possible to reflect on challenges related to interaction between the political level and the military level in crisis resolution. This is also where tactical, operational and strategic issues converge in a joint, interministerial and allied framework. Operational responsiveness serving political decision-makers finds one of its most relevant illustrations here. As a genuine hub for decision-making and evaluation, C2 centres are the focus of attention of major military powers. The situation in Europe illustrates this: previously organised around two commands (Ramstein and Izmir), Aircom will become this summer the single command of NATO and will therefore be responsible for European airspace in its entirety. In this renovated framework, how can we rethink the ability of nations to command, control and conduct complex operations? What training should be provided for staff who will serve in the C2 centres? How can we include the interministerial context in new-generation C2 centres? These are examples of fundamental issues to be discussed in workshop 2. Workshop 3 Operational maintenance: different thinking? Co-chaired by André DULAIT, Senator of Deux-Sèvres and Marie RECALDE, Deputy of Gironde Far from being a technical issue, maintenance in operational condition is at the heart of our thinking on operations themselves. Here again, we have the same common theme of operational responsiveness to serve political objectives, which connects all five workshops of this 12th edition of the summer conference. The creation of a joint-force support body, the Integrated Structure in charge of Maintenance in Operational Condition of Defence Aeronautical Equipment (SIMMAD) embodied the beginning of collective awareness in But phenomena such as ageing of fleets on the one hand, and modernisation of certain capabilities on the other hand, contributed to the complication of this issue. It

5 is perhaps time to consider maintenance in operational condition from the priority perspective of activity and not only of preventive management, with an innovative approach and reasoning focused on activities rather than availability. The round table during this workshop will focus on operational feedback of maintenance in operational condition, reflecting on how it can be reintegrated into the operational logistics and action of forces. Solving this equation appears to be essential in a context of budget constraints. This workshop will rethink maintenance in operational condition with a holistic approach, seeking concrete joint-force solutions. Workshop 4 Afghanistan, Côte d Ivoire, Libya, Mali, Central African Republic: ten-year perspective of external commitments Co-chaired by Jean-Louis CARRERE, Senator from Landes, Chairman of the committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces and Philippe NAUCHE, Deputy of Corrèze, Vice-Chairman of the committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces Retrospectively, the expression war on global terrorism, leading to unilateral moral objectives, today appears to be a strategic dead end. The confusion was recognised by President Barack Obama himself, when he finally concluded in 2011 that it was pointless to declare war on a mode of action, as this led to interventions without prior geographic, cultural and human thinking, and therefore without time limits. This American self-criticism does not, however, do away with the need for stabilisation or interposition operations, as shown by the positive action of France in Mali. Chaos is not a reasonable option, as suggested by the recent - and probably future evolution of our European neighbourhood. But lessons have been learned and it seems advisable for future operations to comply with four cardinal principles: autonomous evaluation of the threat, political legitimacy, operational effectiveness of front-line military action and finally freedom of political action, linked to a time limit on presence. An exit strategy should be planned and defined before the operation is launched. As for the support of allies, provided that they are willing to participate and convinced of their interests in the intervention zone, it is obviously indispensable. The issue is to reflect on the operational consequences of geopolitical assessment of ten years of interventions: what force structures do we need to meet these challenges? How can we rethink the action and capabilities of components? How can we balance high intensity and stabilisation vectors, taking into account the destabilisation threats identified by recent geopolitical prospective studies (Horizon 2030 of the Strategic Affairs Directorate)? Workshop 5 The strategic assets of mastering the third dimension Co-chaired by Jacques GAUTIER, Senator of Haut-de-Seine, Vice-Chairman of the committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces and Christophe GUILLOTEAU, Deputy of Rhône Mastering the third dimension represents a historical strategic asset for a country like France. As a structuring capability for protection of French territory and citizens, the combat and transport fleets of the different components (land, air, sea) allow responsiveness, a remote strike capability and an effective support resource which makes them indispensable in resolution of international crises and conflicts. The Libyan operational sequence, with combined action of the fleets of the air force and navy and of the light aircraft of the army clearly showed this in In the future, how will France choose, in relation to the European dimension, to configure this force multiplier? What balance between manned and unmanned fleets? What new concepts for air mobility? The western world will not always have air superiority: How can we take into account the resurgent strength of new emerging stakeholders in the third dimension? How can we meet the challenge of denial of access, embodied in particular by global proliferation of ground-to-air defence capabilities? This workshop will focus on all these joint-force issues which structure control of the third dimension for the future.

6 Useful contacts National Assembly Senate Conference Management Participant contact point Partnership Official website Gwénaël JEZEQUEL Principal Private Secretary to the Committee Chairwoman Assemblée nationale 33 rue Saint Dominique Paris Phone: +33 (0) gjezequel@assemblee-nationale.fr Olivier DELAMARE-DEBOUTTEVILLE Head of the Senate Committee Executive Office Sénat Palais du Luxembourg 15 rue de Vaugirard Paris Phone: +33 (0) Fax: +33 (0) Courriel: o.delamare@senat.fr Eric SCHMIDT CEIS Conseiller spécial auprès du Président Phone: +33 (0) organisation@universite-defense.org Std: +33 (0) Fax: +33 (0) Addresses: 280 boulevard Saint-Germain Paris Amélie Phone: +33 (0) contact@universite-defense.org Mathilde Phone: +33 (0) contact@universite-defense.org Stanislas VERLEY Phone: +33 (0) partenariat@universite-defense.org #UED2014 Under the Presidence of In partnership with