The Citadel Kleber 2020 military exercise in Lille.
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M.Libert / 20 Minutes
An exercise bringing together several hundred soldiers is currently taking place in Lille.
This is to prepare the Rapid Reaction Corps (CRR FR) to take its turn of alert in 2022.
The scenario of the exercise, "very credible", was classified by NATO.
Ready for the fight.
If a conflict breaks out in an ally of France or in a NATO country in 2022, response and defense operations will be carried out by the Staff of the Rapid Reaction Corps (CRR FR) based at the citadel of Lille.
Once the decision is made, deployment to the theater of operations must be effective within 48 hours.
Responsiveness that requires training, coronavirus epidemic or not.
It is for this reason that the Citadel kleber 2020 exercise is currently taking place out of sight between the walls of the citadel of Lille.
In a year, it will be the turn of the CRR FR headquarters to take its turn of alert among the nine existing headquarters in all NATO countries.
In the event of a conflict, as is currently the case in Mali, the CRR FR will have to be able to project itself on the spot and set up a command post to coordinate military operations.
Fictitious scenarios, but very "credible"
"Kleber is used to prepare us for this alert by carrying out a simulation of engagement according to a very credible scenario", explains Brigadier General Jérôme Goisque, head of the CRR FR.
Scenario about which we will not know anything, this one being classified.
“It is NATO that analyzes the current crises and develops the scenarios.
They are very close to what could happen, ”continues the senior officer.
In Lille, 550 soldiers, including 37 representatives of allied countries, participated in Kleber.
Two other sites are concerned: the 11th Toulouse parachute regiment and the 54th Hyères artillery regiment.
But here, it is not a question of jumping in holes and rolling tanks: “The actions on the ground are simulated, a bit like a war game.
The role of the General Staff is to analyze a tactical situation, to develop maneuvers which will be translated into orders to be applied on the ground ”, continues General Goisque.
Biological threat and cyber threat
Within the CRR FR, several trades are participating in the exercise.
In a room with regulated access where sensitive documents were hastily hidden, Lieutenant-Colonel Christophe commands men from the 2nd Dragoon Regiment, specialists in nuclear radiological, biological and chemical risk (NRBC).
“We come to the support of the army units in this exercise where the adversary presents an NRBC threat.
It's up to us to assess this threat and the enemy's capabilities, ”he explains.
Again, we will not know more.
The “cyber” unit of the CRR FR based in Lille.
- M.Libert / 20 Minutes
In another place in the citadel, several tents have been set up in a perimeter protected by a curtain of barbed wire.
A large parable completes the decor.
One of these tents houses the “cyber” team of the CRR FR, made up of ten men.
They are present when it comes to deploying IT or communication infrastructure, in other words all year round.
"Our mission of protecting the systems is permanent, including during projections on the operating fields", assures Lieutenant-Colonel Frédéric.
These geeks in fatigues have a dual mission: to track down suspicious activity and "malicious" activity, in other words cyberattacks against the armed forces.
This preparation for the alert in 2022 will continue with other smaller exercises.
The next in March and the last in October 2021 with a deployment of the CRR FR in Norway.
"From January 1, 2022, we must be ready to leave if necessary," insists General Goisque.
"Hopefully it will not be for a threat equivalent to the scenario of the exercise," he says.
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