Kreutzkamp, Sebastian ORION Französisch/Deutsches Großmanöver

The ORION exercise took place in France between March and May 2023. It was a large-scale manoeuvre involving over 12,000 soldiers from all branches of the armed forces and a corresponding number of combat vehicles and aircraft. With this number of personnel and weapon systems, ORION was the largest manoeuvre in France for over 30 years. ORION was divided into several phases: The first exercise phase began in March 2023 and was followed by a phase of simulated political activities with a full force in the south of France. The last and largest exercise phase began on 19 April and ended on 5 May 2023. The exercise area was the Grand-Est region, which includes Champagne, Alsace and Lorraine. The ROT exercise force was largely made up of units from the Franco-German Brigade with around 1,200 soldiers. These included Jäger Battalion 292, Panzerpionierkompanie 550 and the 4th Company of Jäger Battalion 291. The BLUE exercise force and the supporting NATO units consisted mainly of the 2e Brigade Blindée (2e BB) from Illkirch, which is part of the 3rd Division of the French Land Forces, as well as forces from the US Army, the British Army and a "Battle Group" from the Belgian Army.