The President of the Republic and Chief of the Armed Forces Emmanuel Macron announced on March 25 from Mulhouse to engage the amphibious helicopter carrier (PHA) Dixmude in the Antilles in April, and the PHA Mistral in the Indian Ocean, where it is already operating within the framework of the Joan of Arc mission, with the frigate Guépratte. These resources will be put to the service of Operation Resilience, which now includes all the means of the armies against the coronavirus.
Le Dixmude could play several roles in the Antilles: ensuring the transfer of patients between the islands (Saint Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique) or play the role of a conventional 69-bed hospital on the quayside, to relieve hospital structures of their emergencies and let them focus on the coronavirus, as hospital ships do in the United States. THE'Argus, a British logistics vessel capable of moving 28 tonnes and with good airmobile capabilities, and Dutch ships promised by the Dutch government are expected to lend a hand.
Premeditated implications
Le Dixmude will leave from mainland France and may have suitable equipment and medical teams. However, the Mistral, already in the Indian Ocean and currently stopping over in Mahé (Seychelles) for its supplies, has only its organic means and does not have medical teams to welcome and transport patients. It will therefore be necessary to mobilize on the spot, in Reunion, army medical means or bring them from France, with equipment. Mayotte is a most fragile territory, due to its isolation, a high population density and weaker health structures.
These implications had been thought out very early on: the Dixmude was recalled from his mission in Lebanon, from where he will return to Toulon on Friday March 27. The Mistral, he interrupted in the Indian Ocean a cutscene that was to lead him to New Caledonia originally.
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