ABSTRACT
Any policy of management or transformation first of all presupposes the existence of the proper resources. One of the merits of the current administration was its efforts to strengthen the bonds between the army and the nation and to initiate certain adjustments inside the vast military establishment both with respect to the threat and with regard to the state of French society itself. The adjustments made in resources and especially the new model for the Ground Forces are not neutral in doctrinal terms. These changes are, in effect, paralleled in two particular aspects of security policy: the designation of the threat on the one hand, and the tightening of Franco-German ties and the opening toward Europe on the other hand. The concept of an airmobile force comprising a strong unit of antitank helicopters was formalized at the end of 1981 and submitted for study to the appropriate Defense Ministry agencies throughout 1982.
