Tag Archives: Opération Tacaud

M2 Days in Chad

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45 years ago this week. 22 February 1980. Opération Tacaud. Chad. “Batha,” a M101A1 (M2) 105mm howitzer in action during a live-fire exercise by 2ème batterie, 11e régiment d’artillerie de marine (RAMa). The location is likely Camp Dubut north of N’Djamena, the country’s capital.

Note the cannon is likely named for the Batha prefecture of Chad. Marc-André Desanges/ECPAD/Défense. F 80-115 L256

The handy 4,900-pound U.S. M2/M101A1 howitzer entered French service in 1943 as the HM2 10,5cm gun and it remained a standard in operations against the Viet Minh in Indochina, in Algeria, and in other places– such as Chad against the Libyans– until finally withdrawn from service in 1997.

While the gunners of 11e RAMa– a unit that dates back to 1622— are still in French Army service, based at Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier and equipped with Caesar 155mm guns, 120mm mortars, Mistral missiles, and VOA Griffons, the French have officially departed Chad after 70 years of post-colonial security assistance (and 60 years of colonial rule). 

It would seem the Chadians are pivoting towards Moscow. 

Jaguar diplomacy

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A great image from 35 years ago, circa 1989: Armée de l’air (French Air Force) SEPECAT Jaguar of Escadron de Chasse 1/7 Provence (EC 1/7) over Saint-Dizier-Robinson Air Base, including two in their standard European camo and one in the French camouflé Afrique.

Michel Riehl/ECPAD/Défense Réf. : DIA 90 311 03

A British-French project, Paris ordered 200 Jags (160 single seat, 40 double seat) in 1972 to replace older strike aircraft– typically Dassault Mystère IVs– and the first examples were delivered soon after.

While their primary mission was seen as being counter-Warsaw Pact invasion if the Fulda Gap ever got crowded or in strategic deterrent (EC 1/7 only downshifted from its nuclear strike role in 1991), the French made excellent use of the aircraft in the sandbox, with detachments of EC 1/7 Jags deployed to Mauritania in Opération Lamantin in 1977, Chad from 1978-1986 in Opération Tacaud /Manta– the latter key to the defeat of the Libyan forces during the Toyota Wars. Then came Opération Daguet (Desert Sheild/Storm) where they made short work of Iraqi depots and columns.

Jags were so often sent overseas on deployments across Africa and the Middle East that for a period it was joked that Paris practiced “Jaguar diplomacy” (la diplomatie du Jaguar).

Withdrawn from French service in 2005, fittingly, the Jaguar placed on display in 2023 at the Musee Air et Espace, A91, is in camouflé Afrique tan and had served with EC 1/7 in Chad and Iraq, surviving an Iraqi SAM during the raid on Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base, Kuwait, in 1991.

Today, EC 1/7 operates Dassault Rafale B and C models, which were received in 2006.

Fittingly, their first overseas deployment was to the high deserts of Tajikistan’s Dushanbe airbase in 2007, from where they were used in strikes over Afghanistan. They have also deployed to Al Dhafra in the UAE and other places in the region since then.

Perhaps it is now la diplomatie du Rafale?