7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
May 8, 2023

French led NATO exercise ORION is the first of its kind in over 30 years

U.S. Army and NATO allies work side by side in a French-led interoperability coalition training for the first time in over thirty years.

The French 3rd Division’s exercise, Large-scale Operations for a Resilient, Integrating, high-intensity Oriented and New Army, nicknamed ORION, was a culminating national exercise that took place across several French regions, from April 17-May 4, 2023.

“It’s their national exercise, so it’s their ability to show that they can lead this force in a large-scale combat operation,” said Maj. Robert Moore, an operations officer assigned to 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment. “It’s also an opportunity to show that we can have seamless unity and be able to provide large-scale combat operations against any foe that we may encounter.”

The exercise combines field tactic maneuvers, artillery maneuvers as well as air-space surveillance technology with joint air-ground integration centers composed of command teams from multiple nations.

“ORION…builds multinational interoperability and allows us to train with our partner nations in NATO.”

The exercise jointly trained over thirteen countries and foreign military forces in multiple facets.

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ORION focused on large-scale combat operations; foreign forces have rallied together under French 3rd Division command to exhibit multinational interoperability.

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During the exercise, U.S. Army troops with different specializations had the opportunity to work with their immediate counterparts from countries like Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and more.

Photo: U.S. Army.