For nearly three weeks in November, France quietly staged its largest-ever joint military drill in the Middle East, sending more than a thousand personnel to the United Arab Emirates for a high-intensity exercise that says as much about politics as it does about tactics.
Gulf 25, a desert war game with serious intent
The operation, known as Gulf 25, brought together over 2,000 French and Emirati troops between 6 and 24 November on Emirati soil.
Roughly half of those were French soldiers, sailors and air force personnel, making it the most ambitious inter-service exercise ever mounted by Paris in the region in terms of scale, complexity and military capabilities deployed.
Gulf 25 was designed as a full-spectrum, combat-level drill: land, air and sea forces operating together in a harsh desert theatre.
Far from a ceremonial parade, the scenario pushed units through a relentless tempo of missions in punishing conditions.
Temperatures soared, sand clogged equipment and visibility, and long supply lines had to be maintained in a landscape with almost no natural cover.
French officers describe the exercise as the closest thing to real operations that troops can experience without live combat.
What France brought to the Gulf battlefield
To make the drill credible, Paris deployed some of its most advanced hardware.
- Leclerc main battle tanks formed the backbone of the land component, operating in the environment they were originally designed for: open, sandy terrain.
- Rafale fighter jets provided simulated deep strikes and close air support, integrating with Emirati controllers on the ground.
- A FREMM frigate extended the exercise to the maritime domain, supporting coastal operations and air defence.
- An Atlantic 2 maritime patrol aircraft acted as an airborne sensor, hunting fictitious threats at sea and cueing naval units.
On the Emirati side, ground forces, helicopters and combat aircraft were plugged into the same operational picture.
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French and Emirati staffs planned the missions together, executed them in mixed formations and then dissected every phase in joint debriefings.
The core aim was interoperability: getting both armies to share the same tactical language, technical procedures and decision-making rhythm.
A partnership decades in the making
France’s presence in the UAE did not start with Gulf 25.
Defence cooperation between the two countries dates back to the 1970s and was formalised in a set of security agreements in 1995.
The real step change came in 2009, when Paris opened a permanent base in Abu Dhabi, the first such facility for a Western military in the Gulf outside the US.
Today around 650 French personnel are stationed there year-round, operating land units, a naval base and an air detachment.
From that hub, France can quickly send forces across the region, support counter-terrorism missions and back up allies if a crisis breaks out.
In a Gulf region marked by tensions with Iran, maritime insecurity and periodic flare-ups between neighbours, France positions itself as a steady, mid-sized but credible power.
Gulf 25 makes that message visible: Paris is not only selling weapons to the UAE, it is training, planning and operating alongside Emirati troops at scale.
Clear operational goals: speed and coordination
The drill focused on a series of demanding scenarios built around high-intensity conflict.
French and Emirati troops rehearsed combined arms assaults, with tanks, infantry and artillery advancing under air cover.
Air defence units practised tracking and engaging simulated missile or drone threats.
Medical teams worked through combat evacuations in degraded conditions, including night-time extractions and long-range airlifts.
At sea, the frigate and Atlantic 2 coordinated maritime surveillance, interception of hostile vessels and support to troops near the coastline.
Behind the manoeuvres sits a simple question: could both armies react fast and effectively if a real crisis erupted somewhere in the Gulf?
For France, the answer will help shape future force planning, from the number of transport aircraft needed to how quickly heavy armour can be prepositioned.
A high-level political signal to the region
The exercise ended with a VIP day attended by the chiefs of defence from both France and the UAE.
Their presence underlined that Gulf 25 is not just a military drill but a strategic statement.
For Abu Dhabi, it confirms that France remains a reliable partner with high-end technology and the political will to deploy it quickly.
For Paris, the exercise shows a deliberate policy: anchor French defence ties outside Europe, particularly with states that can host its forces and buy its equipment.
Gulf 25 sits at the intersection of strategy, arms sales and alliance politics in a region where US dominance is no longer taken for granted.
French officials also highlight that such drills build personal relationships between officers and NCOs on both sides, which can make coordination far smoother in an actual emergency.
Part of a crowded 2025 training calendar for France
Gulf 25 is only one piece of a much larger puzzle.
France has stacked its 2025 schedule with major exercises across Europe, Africa and the Indo-Pacific, reflecting a shift from counter-insurgency to preparation for high-intensity conflict.
| Exercise | Location | French troops | Main partners | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dacian Fall 2025 | Romania | 3,000+ | NATO allies | Conventional land war, brigade level |
| Gulf 25 | United Arab Emirates | Approx. 1,000 | UAE armed forces | Joint, high-intensity desert operations |
| Steadfast Dagger 2025 | Europe / NATO | Approx. 1,200 | NATO | Reaction force certification |
| Chergui 2025 | Morocco | Approx. 700 | Moroccan armed forces | Desert land combat |
| Bold Panzer | Baltic region | Approx. 500 | Baltic and Polish forces | Armoured manoeuvre |
| ANNUALEX 25 | Indo-Pacific (Japan) | Approx. 300 | Japan, US and partners | Naval and air interoperability |
| Baltic Sentry | Baltic Sea | Approx. 300 | NATO navies | Maritime surveillance |
This global training pattern reflects France’s aim to be what its generals call a “global manoeuvre force” rather than a static garrison army.
The same units that rotate through Eastern Europe one year can find themselves in the UAE or the Indo-Pacific the next.
Key concepts behind Gulf 25
What “joint” and “interoperable” actually mean
Gulf 25 is labelled “interarmées” in French, meaning joint operations across land, air and navy.
That involves more than just putting different uniforms in the same place.
They must share compatible radios, data links and maps.
Pilots have to understand how ground commanders think, and naval officers need to coordinate timing with air strikes.
When two countries are involved, complexity doubles: language barriers, different standard operating procedures, even different ways of reading a map can slow everything down.
Interoperability is about eliminating those frictions before a crisis, so that in real operations, units slot together like pieces of the same machine.
Risks and benefits of large-scale drills
Exercises at this scale always carry some risk.
Training accidents can occur, equipment can be damaged and the cost in fuel, munitions and maintenance is high.
There is also a political dimension: rivals in the region may read such manoeuvres as a signal of alignment against them.
Yet the benefits are significant.
Troops test their limits, commanders refine their plans and logisticians see what breaks under pressure.
For countries like France and the UAE, which both rely heavily on advanced technology, these drills are also a way to stress-test expensive kit before wartime.
The ultimate measure of success is simple: if a crisis hits, are fewer mistakes made, and are decisions faster, because the hard work has already been done in places like the Emirati desert?
That is the bet Paris is making with Gulf 25 and the more than 1,000 troops it pushed into the sand this year.
