DÉFENSE ZONE
Défense Zone is a magazine designed to inform you and help you better understand defence and security issues in France and around the world.
Défense Zone also pays particular attention to images. For all our publications, we take care to find the best photos and so showcase the work of photographers. The “Zone image” section is there for that. In each issue of our magazine, over three double-page spreads, a news topic is covered, explained and shown in a single photo, keeping only the essentials of the story.
Exercise Flintlock 2022
From 20 to 28 February, the annual Flintlock 2022 exercise was held at the International Academy for Combating Terrorism (AILCT) in Jacqueville, Côte d’Ivoire. This exercise, bringing together nearly 400 special forces personnel from 11 countries, aims to pool everyone’s experience in order to optimise procedures in the event of a joint deployment. Under the direction of US Special Operations Command Africa and in partnership with Western countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands and France, the units worked with four African special forces units (Ghana, Niger, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon) on scenarios involving reconnaissance missions, intelligence gathering and casualty evacuation under fire after an IED incident. In this photo, an Ivorian special forces team has just ambushed an enemy convoy. Once the enemy has been neutralised, the soldiers will take samples (DNA, fingerprints and photos) to identify the terrorists.
Air forces on the front line
Since 2 February, the air forces of the French Air and Space Force have been engaged in strengthening strategic solidarity with NATO member countries. Every day, Rafales of the 30th Fighter Wing take part in the protection of the Alliance’s eastern flank. Armed with MICA and Meteor missiles, the crews’ task is to preserve the security of Polish airspace, particularly along its border with Ukraine. Supported by A330 Phénix and C-135 tanker aircraft of the 31st Strategic Air Refuelling and Transport Wing (EARTS) in Istres, two patrols of two Rafales take off daily from Air Base 118 at Mont-de-Marsan. These flights lasting several hours require up to four refuellings for a single surveillance patrol.
Legionnaires - 2022
In this latest issue, in addition to a full feature on the French Foreign Legion, Défense Zone presents its new photo book devoted to the white kepis. This photo, used on the cover of the book, shows three young legionnaires during their initial training.
The foreword to this book was written by General Burkhard, Chief of the Defence Staff, of which here is an extract: “Through the superb photos in the book Légionnaires, the fruit of the combined eyes of a civilian and a former serviceman, we follow the path of today’s legionnaires, step by step. Recruitment, training, exercises, deployment on operations: so many themes that allow everyone to become familiar with the daily life of legionnaires. The final chapter, devoted to outreach, sheds light on what is undoubtedly the Legion’s greatest strength. I am thinking of that unique ability that allows it to reconcile tradition and modernity, and to keep alive the spirit of an exceptional force for nearly two hundred years.”
To order the book “Légionnaire”, visit our online bookshop.
You can find the full Zone Image section in issue 6 of Défense Zone
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