doubleplusundead

June 06, 2008

sacrebleu!

According to documents leaked to the French press, half of France's military equipment is busted and inoperable, and most of the rest is held together with duct tape. How bad is it? Like early post-Soviet collapse bad,

According to confidential defence documents leaked to the French press, less than half of France's Leclerc tanks – 142 out of 346 – are operational and even these regularly break down.
Less than half of its Puma helicopters, 37 per cent of its Lynx choppers and 33 per cent of its Super Frelon models – built 40 years ago – are in a fit state to fly, according to documents seen by Le Parisien newspaper.

Two thirds of France's Mirage F1 reconnaissance jets are unusable at present.

The documents say that the weakness of the military could have quite easily been exposed during a rescue mission off the coast of Somalia(Somali pirates had seized a yacht and taken her passengers hostage) last month, an effort that nearly fell apart in the early stages. Two frigates and a jet experienced engine failures, and a ship carrying equipment sunk under its load.

Be sure to read the whole thing and look at Sarkozy's plans for France's military future.

*D'oh! Jeff in comments informs me Cuffy's video is of French Canadians...whatever, it's still a funny video, so it fucking stays!

Makes me think of this video Cuffy posted a few months ago.

Also obligatory, but I feel like a tool for doing it because I feel bad for the decent French servicemen who have to serve with this crappy equipment.

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x73/doubleplusundeadmeenu/French_Surrender.jpg

***Welcome again morons, and thanks for the link Ace! Be sure to check out fellow Morons bmac, Sean M., It's Vintage, Duh, and Moron Pundit at doubleplusundead!

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 05:52 PM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
Post contains 293 words, total size 2 kb.

1 France's military future.

HaHaHaHa!!!!

Oh wait, was that a joke?

Posted by: bmac at June 06, 2008 05:59 PM (oRVu1)

2 That video is of Canadian soldiers. I am from Quebec, and that is certainly not a France or Belgian accent - in other words those are French canadians, and it is very distinguishable. As for France's military falling apart - good luck when Islamists storm the parliament.

Posted by: Jeff at June 06, 2008 06:46 PM (5v2i9)

3 D'oh! I wouldn't know, I don't really know the dialects, have a sibling who would...

Posted by: doubleplusundead at June 06, 2008 06:48 PM (ZuzXA)

This may actually be a good thing. With an increasing number of France's conscripted army being you-know-whos, it may be better in the long run for the rest of us if their more advanced equipment is non-functional.

I wonder what sort of state their Frappe De Force is in?

Posted by: holdfast at June 06, 2008 06:55 PM (Gzb30)

5 Like so many Europeans, the French have let their military rot, but they have one of the best counterterrorism forces in the world, the GIGN. The French also have draconian civil-order laws that allow their police leeway that we in the U.S. would find appalling. In the 1960s, for example, the French Action Service basically fielded death squads to take care of the OAS terrorists threatening to overthrow de Gaulle. The French may not be able to project their power abroad anymore, but they certainly have the means to contain any domestic problems. They also have the will: Remember what they did in the Ivory Coast in 2004. French security forces have no problem machine gunning unarmed crowds, which is something the Muslims in France know.

Posted by: Tom W. at June 06, 2008 07:37 PM (wzzvi)

6 Oh yes, they saved DeGaul, what a victory.

That strutting commie bastard is a big reason why France and the rest of Europe are so jacked up right now.

Posted by: Smarty at June 06, 2008 08:18 PM (Jk5cI)

7 It is sad that the French have a veto in UN security council and India does not.

Posted by: Tushar at June 06, 2008 08:26 PM (DWXGz)

8 I agree, I don't even know why they were given it in the first place, okay, I know do why, but it was still stupid.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at June 06, 2008 08:34 PM (ZuzXA)

9 *sigh* do know why...me rite gud.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at June 06, 2008 08:35 PM (ZuzXA)

10 It is sad that the French have a veto in UN security council and India does not.

It was sad until the latest BRIC conference, when India turned on us like a wild dog and decided to join SCO.

Posted by: geoff at June 06, 2008 09:53 PM (sCfFX)

No kidding about feeling for the good troops that have to serve with shit equipment. I have met a few of the Legion and you want to talk about some bad-asses...

I wonder what it is like to have a country that will fight all of the wars for you while tou ridicule them? Oh wait, I know what that feels like.

I am an American.

Posted by: Old Iron at June 07, 2008 02:42 AM (tD0Cq)

12 its Super Frelon Methinks the Francotards watched too much Star Wars. France, like the rest of Europe, relies on the US for their defense. As much as they despise us, they save billions of baguettes by underfunding their militaries because they know that we Amaircuns will fight and die to save their cowardly hindquarters from attack. Feed 'em fish heads and rice...

Posted by: skh.pcola at June 07, 2008 09:22 AM (jFpwo)

13 I gotta admit, I'm not all that unhappy the EUnuchs have castrated themselves. Their petty assholishness has killed more people than dysentery.

Posted by: Veeshir at June 07, 2008 11:21 AM (ThMnZ)

14 Well, if the accent doesn't convince you, the red and white Canadian flag on the soldiers' upper arm should.

Posted by: Christoph at June 07, 2008 06:39 PM (hawOV)

15 You can see that? Video's blurry. Or I need a better monitor...or glasses.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at June 07, 2008 06:44 PM (53oBc)

16 Besides, that I remembered this video at all from fucking January is pretty good. That I didn't get that they were French Canucks over Frenchies in general ain't half bad. I mighta (doubtful) been able to figure out they were Canucks from the accent, but this laptop has sound like a fucking Gameboy.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at June 07, 2008 06:56 PM (53oBc)

17 Nice post.. Very interesting.

Posted by: laser pointer at March 12, 2010 10:38 AM (BP27R)

18 cool! the soldier is pretty cool! Very interesting post it is.

Posted by: laser pointers at May 19, 2010 10:02 PM (veN6t)

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Posted by: anbohan at May 26, 2010 02:44 AM (5V84L)

20 wow, the soldier is really cool! thank you for sharing such wonderful post

Posted by: military laser pointer at June 02, 2010 10:01 PM (XEtI5)

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