The Mission Aigle is a French-led military mission deployed to Romania following the activation of the Graduated Response Plans by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe as a response to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Following this decision, France sent troops to Romania on 28 February 2022 in order to strengthen the Alliance's deterrent and defensive posture against Russia.[1]
On 28 February 2022, France deployed a spearhead battalion of the rapid response force to Romania.[1] Since 1 May, the multinational battalion constituted the Battle Group Forward Presence (BGFP) in Romania, with France as the lead nation.[2] For the first time, France assumed the role of leading nation in a NATO reassurance mission.[3] The BGFP is a multinational battalion tasked with reinforcing the operational capabilities of the deployed troops. It is under the command of the Multinational Brigade South-East based in Craiova. The Battle Group Forward Presence takes part in joint actions and missions based on the shared foundation of NATO standards, which enable the multinational forces to work together with unified concepts and methods.[2]
To house the BGFP, a new military base was constructed in Cincu. The base consists of hangars, ammunition depots, as well as, auxiliary buildings for civilian purposes. The military town was constructed by a multinational detachment of engineers, and the costs were covered by France and Romania with construction materials acquired from Romania.[4] It was reported in November that the French soldiers were living in "deplorable" conditions with insufficient food, poor hygiene, and bad heating.[5] These reports were dismissed by the French embassy in Romania as no formal complaints regarding the conditions at the base were received. While living conditions were rudimentary during the construction works, these improved significantly once the base was completed.[6] The soldiers have access to hot water, electricity, internet connection and live in small heated rooms in groups of three or four.[7]
On 18 October, French Leclercs of the 7th Armored Brigade departed for Romania.[8] The tanks arrived in Voila on 16 November.[9] On 6 December, the tanks took part in the first live fire exercise at Cincu during exercise Eagle Zori.[10]
Name and symbol
Aigle means "Eagle" in French. It was chosen as a reference to the Romanian coat of arms. The four flags illustrate the engagement of forces from France, Belgium and the Netherlands in support of Romania.[11]
Medium-range surface-to-air defence detachment (Détachement sol-air moyenne portée - SAMP) MAMBA, in Capu Midia
National support echelon (Échelon de soutien national - ESN), in Cincu and Mihail Kogalniceanu
Senior National Representative (SNR) and the Brigade Forward Command Element (BFCE) in Bucharest
Participating in the mission are forces from France, Belgium and the Netherlands.[11] From 21 March 2023, Luxembourg also joined the Aigle mission.[13]
Battle Group Forward Presence
The BGFP consists of 700 soldiers, of which 80 Dutch soldiers, and is commanded by Colonel Laurent Luisetti.[14] It is equipped with the following:[15]
From 6 May, at the request of the Romanian authorities and NATO, the French forces deployed the MAMBA ground-to-air defence system at the Capu Midia base. The system is composed of several interconnected modules. Each launch unit can salvo fire up to eight ASTER 30 missiles. To increase the efficiency, the system is connected and integrated via a tactical data link to the Romanian, and NATO defense systems, which command it. Following a test phase, the MAMBA system was certified and is now fully integrated in the NATO Integrated Air Missile Defence (IAMD).[18]
