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This two-part article summarizes the highlights of the first panel in the AD2S 2024 conference series, entitled ““Technical-operational support for defense aeronautics facing a major conflict"”. This first section focuses on the following two major points raised by the participants: definition and impact of a major high intensity conflict on the forces: “integrating military MRO into the maneuver”; the question of mass.

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Military MRO And The Challenge Of A Major High-Intensity Conflict: The Need For A Change In Mindset (I of II)

By Murielle Delaporte - Highlights of the first panel entitled “Technical-operational support for defense aeronautics facing a major conflict" (Part I)

 

This panel was moderated by Air Force Lieutenant General (2S) Jean-Marc Laurent, founder and head of the Defense & Aerospace Chair, Sciences Po Bordeaux, and featured (in the order of their contributions):

  • Rear Admiral Hervé Lamielle, Head of the Support Division of the French Armed Forces General Staff ;
  • Air Division General Julien Sabéné, second-in-command of the CTAAE (Air and Space Force Territorial Command);
  • Air Force Brigadier General Fabrice Feola, Commander of the CSOA (Operations and Logistics Support Center);
  • Air Force Brigadier General Etienne Gourdain, “Nuclear and Security” General Officer, French Air Force Headquarters;
  • and, via video, Major General Rafael Gomez Blanco, Director of Engineering, Spanish Air Force Logistics Command.

The angle of approach of this panel was to tackle the “problem of preparation and anticipation in the face of the hypothesis of a major high-intensity conflict” both from a politico-military point of view and the “design of an operational and technico-operational posture” adapted to such a scenario1.

 

After having “set the scene” for what a major high-intensity conflict would represent in military terms and in terms of pressure on the military MRO supply chain, and having taken stock of the resources and solutions currently in place, all the participants agreed on the need to instill a real change in mentality, enabling aircraft and pilots to fly on a daily basis right now, in order to “ be ready when the time comes”2.

 

Definition and impact of major high-intensity operations on forces: “ integrating MRO and Support into the maneuver”

 

Speaking on behalf of the French Defence Procurement Agency (EMA), Rear Admiral Lamielle described the changing strategic context as an “acceleration of the world” and an “increase in uncertainties”, reflecting the retreat of the Western vision of a law-based international order, and forcing an “operational paradigm shift” in the face of a more frequent and violent use of force.


The most immediate impact for the armed forces is the need for a paradigm shift between “risk control and risk management“, in the face of the hypothesis - likely to become a reality at any moment - of a highly violent, long-term confrontation “with thresholds crossed when facing primordial, even existential, issues”. This is the definition of high-intensity in relation to the hypothesis of a major engagement, which can include high-intensity episodes.

 

Backed by a long career in naval aviation support, Rear-Admiral Lamielle believes that, for this type of operation, military MRO should not be seen simply as accompanying the maneuver, but should be fully integrated into it. It also means maintaining the safety and security of weapon systems, as the use of force is now multi-domain, and therefore includes immaterial fields such as cyber and information.

 

Positioning the third dimension in the face of a major high-intensity engagement: the question of mass

 

A fighter pilot, General Sabéné views the impact of a major high-intensity engagement scenario on the Air forces as follows:

 

  • The history of the French AAE (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace) is one of risk-taking, and can be summed up in the famous quote from the father of aviation, Clément Ader, who said:
    “ The master of the world will be the master of the air ”.
    This has been proven time and again by the air operations carried out since the First World War and to the contrary by the Russian army's failure to use its military aviation in the current conflict with Ukraine.

  • But the second lesson of this conflict is the need to rely on mass to defeat a symmetrical adversary: the increasing cost of military aircraft (according to the famous Augustine's Laws, “a B2 costs more than its weight in gold”) makes air superiority far from being a given, as the mass needed to penetrate A2AD ("Anti-Access / Anti-Denial”) defenses is now being achieved on the Ukrainian battlefield by the exploding production of thousands of drones on both sides, another manifestation of the air dimension in a context of major high-intensity engagement.

 

As General (2S) Laurent stressed out, the notion of military MRO has indeed to be corelated with “matching volumes”, while one should not forget that there is another area just as essential to MRO and also lacking serious mass, i.e. the logistics behind it all and that are essential to support.

 

General Feola, in charge of strategic supply and logistics as commander of the CSOA, underlined a worrying scissors effect characterized by, on the one hand, “an increase in forces' mobility requirements” and, on the other hand, “a reduction in projection and transport assets ”.

 

Another vulnerability affecting all the armed forces is the outsourcing of some of these resources, and the problem of employing foreign civilian personnel when resources are requisitioned. This raises the whole question of the robustness of the supply delivery system - both physical and cyber - at a time when one of the tactical solutions proposed to counter the threat of major high-intensity engagement is precisely the dispersal of forces to ensure better protection, which requires even more means of transport...

 

 

Notes :


[1] General (2S) Laurent
[2] General Feola


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