This is a look at recent news regarding French Infantry Regiments (Régiment d'infanterie 2030) and infantry weaponry. These changes are aimed at preparing for large-scale, high-intensity conflict, accelerated by Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The key points are:
Increasing firepower with new anti-tank weapons, including NLAW, and adding 120mm mortars back into the regiments in Support Mortar Platoons (SAM-120).
New units in the regiment (SRRI/SRGE) for operating drones, loitering munitions, robotic autonomous systems, etc.
A new-ish squad design (replacing trinomes with binomes)
The 92nd Infantry Regiment's (92e RI) experimentation with a Deep Engagement Company (compagnie d'action dans la profondeur)
Restructuring and manpower cuts to afford the new units
There is lots of context of the current regimental/company/squad-level organizations of the 2016 model to lead into what they're thinking of replacing them with.
Even if you've read Fantassins No. 52 which talked about this topic at length, I've included additional information from other sources to make it worth watching. This includes info from an infantry conference in October 2023 that went a lot deeper into platoon-level organizations throughout the regiment Combat and Support Companies.
