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Rapid Reaction Corps – France

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HQ RRC-Fr
RRC-FR insigna
Founded2005
CountryFrance
BranchFrench Army
TypeHeadquarters
Garrison/HQLille
Motto(s)Your operational solution
WebsiteRRC-Fr
Commanders
Current
commander		Lieutenant General Emmanuel Gaulin
Lille's Citadelle aerial view

The Rapid Reaction Corps — France (RRC-FR) was created on 1 July 2005 by the French Army. It is NATO certified and capable of commanding a national or multinational land component of up to 120,000 personnel. The corps is intended to command forces under French, EU or NATO command. It was subordinated to the French Army's Commandement de la Force et des Opérations Terrestres, the land forces command.[1]

The corps is stationed in Lille, within the Citadel of Lille, a 17th-century citadel also known as the "Queen of the Citadels", designed by the famous French fortress designer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban.

The royal gate

History

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The corps is led by the French Army and designed to direct a multinational force of up to army corps size. It numbers 450 personnel (including 70 non-French officers and NCOs from 12 different EU or NATO countries) and up to 750 in times of crisis. The corps HQ is open to all EU and NATO members (18% of its strength). Though stationed in France, its working language is English.

In 2003, the decision was taken to create a rapid reaction force headquarters. The RRC-FR headquarters began forming on 1 July 2005. The CRR-FR was officially founded on 1 October 2006, in a ceremony including representatives of 22 nations, along with generals Henri Bentégeat and Bernard Thorette, then Chief of Staff of the French Army. Establishing the RRC-FR has been seen as a move to strengthen the emergence of a European defense force.[2]

Following a detailed examination of its capabilities during exercises CITADEL BONUS 2023[3] and LOYAL LEDA 2024,[4] the Rapid Reaction Corps — France was certified as a Warfighting Corps (WFC) by NATO in January 2024.[5]

Once placed on alert, it can deploy reconnaissance teams to an operation area within two days, following a political decision to commit troops and a command post (CP) in less than thirty days.

Commanding post shelters

Operational History

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HQ RRC-FR can perform a wide variety of missions, ranging from initial entry to stabilisation operations.

It can be committed within a multinational environment, in the framework of NATO, the European Union (EU), or French mandate. Thus:

  • From 1 July to 31 December 2008, it assumed NATO Response Force (NRF11) Land Component standby period.
  • From January to May 2009, some HQ staff members contributed to reinforcing European Force (EUFOR) in Chad and the Central African Republic.
  • From August 2010 to January 2011, about 180 personnel (including about thirty allies) were deployed to Afghanistan to man part of the positions of International Security Assistance Force corps-level headquarters, the ISAF Joint Command (IJC).
  • Until the end of 2014, HQ RRC-FR assumed NATO Response Force (NRF) Land Component standby period.
  • In 2015, HQ RRC-FR celebrated its 10th anniversary.
  • In 2015–2016, there was a deployment of a part of the corps as the Joint Command Post of Operation Barkhane in Africa.
  • In 2017, it received NATO Joint Task Force (JTF) certification.
  • Summer 2017: the beginning of the NATO JTF standby period (one year).
  • In January 2024, it received certification by NATO as a Warfighting Corps (WFC)

At the same time, French personnel of RRC-FR's staff contribute to the Opération Sentinelle as all French army operational units.

Open to the world

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With a multinational corps, the French Army has a complete range of different sizes of HQ from battalion up to Corps. Its creation allows France to contribute according to its position and international commitments while remaining consistent with national security and defense requirements within the framework of the EU or NATO.

In a crisis, French and Allied operational reinforcements would augment its strength to 750 personnel to enable HQ RRC-FR to conduct long-term, high-intensity operations.

Shooting exercise

Contributing states

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In addition to France, the corps framework states that fifteen different states contribute to the staff permanently, representing 80 personnel.

Everything is done to draw on the military experience of each nation. A constant exchange is facilitated by the use of English as a common working language.

  • NATO and European Union members
  • NATO members

Exercises

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To ensure its ability to be deployed at any time, the RRC-FR organizes exercises for its personnel and subaltern units.

In 2023, exercise Citadel Bonus 2023 enabled the RRC-FR to be certified by NATO as a Warfighting Corps (WFC). The corps took the WFC alert in January 2024, for one year.

List of previous exercises :

  • Loyal Leda 2024 (LOLE24)
  • Citadel Bonus 2023 (CIBO23)
  • Cold Response 2022
  • Steadfast Jupiter 2021 (STJU 2021)
  • Steadfast Cobalt 2021 (STCO 2021)
  • Citadel Jupiter 2021 (CIJU 2021)
  • Citadel Kleber 2020 (CIKL 2020)
  • Citadel Guibert 2020 (CIGU 2020)
  • Citadel Bonus 2019 (CIBO 2019)
  • Citadel Guibert 2019 (CIGU 2019)
  • Citadel Guibert 2018 (CIGU 2018)
  • Citadel Bonus 2018 (CIBO 2018)
  • Citadel Bonus 2017 (CIBO 2017)
  • Trident Jaguar 2017
  • Citadel Bonus 2016 (CIBO 2016)
  • Citadel Javelin 2016 (CIJA 2016)
  • Citadel Bonus 2015 (CIBO 2015)
  • Citadel Kleber 2015 (CIKL 2015)
  • Rochambeau 2014
  • Steadfast Cobalt 2013 (STCO 2013)
  • Citadel Leopard 2013 (CILE 2013)

Commanders

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  • General Gaulin : depuis 2022
  • General Gillet : 2019–2022
  • General Kolodziej : 2018–2019
  • General Corbet : 2016–2018
  • General Margail : 2013–2016
  • General Fugier : 2009–2013
  • General Damay : 2007–2009
  • General de Kermabon : 2005–2007
  • General Meille : 2005

Signals and communications

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The corps benefits from the best fibre-optic equipped site among the French Army: about 300 km fibre deployed between and inside its 17th-century walls. There, are 18 (French + NATO) computer and phone networks.

All of them can be projected, via satellite link to an operational theatre providing HQ RRC-FR with the capacity to command, if needed, an operation from its Citadel based Command Post, thanks to a rear Homebase Operation Center (HBOC).

As for now, HQ RRC-FR benefits from the sole French phone exchange directly connected to the NATO network.

A 24 person-team is responsible for assembling, maintenance and operation on these networks, which offers HQ RRC-FR complete autonomy in this domain, compared to other headquarters.

When deployed, HQ RRC-FR can use up to five thousand square meters of tentage, four hundred and fifty modular CP shelters, seventy kilometers of electrical cable, one hundred and twenty kilometers of fiber optics and sixteen hundred computers.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Rapid Reaction Corps (RRC-France)". United States Army NATO. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
  2. ^ Lancement officiel du Quartier général du Corps de réaction rapide-France à Lille Archived 2012-02-25 at the Wayback Machine, French Embassy to the United Kingdom
  3. ^ https://www.defense.gouv.fr/terre/actualites/exercice-citadel-bonus-2023-pas-decisif [bare URL]
  4. ^ https://www.defense.gouv.fr/actualites/exercice-loyal-leda-24-rapidite-resilience-maintien-lavantage-operationnel-lotan [bare URL]
  5. ^ "À Lille, le Corps de réaction rapide France en alerte au nom de l'OTAN, après la Turquie". 19 January 2024.
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