Operation Wolverine: The Dixmude projects a GTIA ready to fight

On the morning of January 28, 2013, after a week of transit, the group composed of projection Building Projection and Command (BPC) Dixmude and her escort Lieutenant Hénaff The Ship arrived in Dakar. The PCB had left Toulon Monday, January 21 with 500 soldiers on board the Army and 140 vehicles in the second battle group joint services (CATF).

Secured from all decks of the ship, the vehicles are released from their attachments. Boatswains the lower Dixmude quickly ramp raft and begin to guide drivers. The hundred vehicles - LAV (light armored vehicle), VAB (armored vehicle from the front), GBC 180, TRM with tanks and trailers, AMX 10 RC, P4 and VBCI (armored infantry fighting) - crosses the ramp to roll once on the platform at the base of the naval station in Dakar, where they remained a few days to be adapted to local conditions, maintained and rigged with the proper equipment. At the same time, many embedded containers are moved from the raft to the dock where they are loaded onto trucks.


In six hours, the entire load of the task force boarded the two Dixmude is offloaded and moved to be stored in a secure place where engineers and logisticians will be busy before leaving for the theater in Mali. The Dixmude remain a few days in port to support the troops, who have not yet landed. The crew will provide logistical support, and will make its facilities and its communication capabilities available to the staff of the task force to continue the preparation of units prior to deployment. With this unloading, transport mission operational PCBs Dixmude completes successfully. The success of this mission routing strategy, conducted for the first time by a building projection and command allows this new generation vessel known for its proven versatility, add a string to his bow.

With its ways to improve and facilitate the operational readiness and maintenance fitness component units a battle group, the PCB can also enhance their transit.

Participation in the operation Dixmude Serval has rapidly deploy many troops - the theoretical capacity of PCBs was exceeded without this increase is the cause of problems - equipped their vehicles and their equipment, so that they can quickly reach the theater.