France is upgrading Faa’a International Airport in Tahiti to support military operations, with infrastructure being adapted to accommodate aircraft including the A400M, A330 MRTT and Rafale. The works will strengthen France’s ability to operate and project airpower across the Pacific.
France plans to permanently station an A400M in the Pacific by 2030, reinforcing a French presence of 550,000 people and 2,850 military personnel. It would complement existing CN-235s and Puma helicopters.
One of the 3 Swedish CB90-class fast assault crafts on loan to the French Navy for 18 months (in France since July 2025) for trials in Brest and Toulon.
Eighteen years ago, in the Uzbin Valley in Afghanistan, ten French soldiers from the 8th RPIMa and the 3rd RIMa lost their lives during a deadly ambush. Twenty-one others, wounded that day, still carry the memory in their flesh.