Exclusive: U.S.-France military flights show "very close" collaboration
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A French A400M, posted at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Photo: Colin Demarest/Axios
Somewhere over Pittsburgh, the ramp of a French A400M yawned open, revealing the landscape below. Nearby flew an American C-17, which moments prior had banked hard left then hard right.
- The ramp hung open for a few minutes, wind gusting in, before clattering closed. The allied airlifters and their crews had completed a simulated airdrop thousands of feet off the ground.
- "We want to train as we're going to do it in real operations," Capt. Brice, the A400M pilot, told Axios after landing. (He declined to share his full name.)
- "I can see that we are very close, in terms of how we manage our flights and our missions."
The big picture: This tandem operation, which also shuttled French and American generals and troops from Maryland to Pennsylvania and back, was part of the Reserve Allies and Partners Program, kicked off by Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) in 2024.
- RAPP, as it's often abbreviated, is designed to foster coordination and confidence among like-minded countries.
- On this trip, the French Air and Space Force interfaced with reserve command leadership and the 911th Airlift Wing, based at the Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station.
- The wing, more than 1,000 people, is home to eight C-17s, which replaced C-130s. Its members include aeromedical evacuation specialists, who trained aboard the A400M.
What they're saying: "You can say that interoperability is, perhaps, some common procedures. But it's more than that," Lt. Gen. Dominique Tardif, vice chief of the French Air and Space Force, told Axios.
- "If you want to be efficient, you need also to be able to know each other," he said. "What we can see through this mission is we are able, very rapidly, to operate together."
Reality check: This face time, coinciding with France's Mission Liberté 250, shows that militaries are still working together, hand in hand, even as their political leaders feud.
Catch up quick: The U.S. and France have long fought alongside each other, from the Revolutionary War to the anti-ISIS campaigns of the Middle East.
- Washington has also sold Paris plenty of weapons and vehicles, including Hellfire missiles, E-2D airborne command-and-control aircraft and MQ-9 drone parts.
The bottom line: "This is deliberate training, which is exactly what our Reserve Allies and Partners Program is all about, making sure that we have the opportunity to work together and expand our minds beyond our own fleet," Lt. Gen. John Healy, the AFRC commander, told Axios.
- "We were doing training up front for the copilot on that flight today."
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