Mission Lynx in Estonia

11 November 2022Photos and text: Fred Marie31 images

01 / 31 · 11 November 2022

Since April 2017, France has been engaged in the Lynx mission in Estonia. Although it is not an Opex (overseas operation) like “Barkhane”, this deployment is relatively large (300 troops as well as several vehicles, including 13 VBCIs and Leclerc tanks).

Stationed at the Tapa camp in eastern Estonia, less than 150 km from the Russian border, the French soldiers are not waging “war”, but “prevention” against Russia.

Integrated into a NATO “Battle Group” led by the British, the French contingent is made up of some thirty different units, with a majority of Legionnaires from the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment, supported by the armored vehicles of the 501st Combat Tank Regiment.

Quite unusually, France deployed 4 Leclerc tanks on this foreign mission, a first since the French engagement in Lebanon in 2006 and the third deployment outside the country since the creation of this legendary armored vehicle.

On the ground, France’s stance is less aggressive than that of its British and Estonian counterparts. More engaged in a communication war, the French soldiers spend most of their time on muddy, cold ground… training. “It’s a tremendous opportunity for our forces to train, especially with the armies of our allies,” says a General Staff officer based in Tallinn, the country’s capital.

Objective of the mission: to support European allies and maintain a presence against a Russia very firmly in NATO’s sights, in order to prevent Estonia from becoming “another” Crimea (illegally annexed and invaded by Vladimir Putin in March 2014), and thus triggering a second Cold War…

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