French army receives the Fighter 2020 combat uniform F3.

Since the beginning of 2019, the F3 uniform has begun to dress the French forces deployed in external operation. This innovative outfit announces a series of developments in combat equipment that aims to improve the soldier's daily life while strengthening its operational efficiency.

New combat uniform F3 showed at Eurosatory defense exhibition in Paris, June 2018. (Picture source  Army Recognition)

The F3 combat suit is made up of a shirt and trousers and is compatible with the FELIN weapon system. "It's no longer just a piece of clothing but a technological object," says Major Mathieu, of the Program Division, Land Forces (armée de Terre) general staff. Its fabric is composed of aramid fibers, very resistant to heat and high mechanical performance and abrasion. But the trademark of this new uniform is its resistance to fire. It is able to withstand 7 seconds fire, the time needed to extract for example a staff of a vehicle in flame. At the genesis of the F3 trellis, one thing is clear: part of the injuries in external operations are the result of improvised explosive devices. These cause burns and injuries by overpressure (consequences of the blast of the explosion). It was therefore necessary that our trellises evolve and could better protect the fighter against the effects of fire and blast.

But the fighter's uniform is not the only one to see a major transformation. Indeed, it is all the individual equipment of the fighter that is changing. "Equipment plays a central role in a soldier's operational capability," says Commander Mathieu. Being more mobile, better protected, evolving in comfortable equipment, being able to communicate at any time with the other deployed units, are as many issues and criteria that require a regular evolution of combat equipment. "The goal of the 'fighter 2020' project is to give each soldier a complete and powerful package as soon as it is incorporated. Says Major Mathieu.

20,000 F3 uniforms have already been distributed in early 2019 to the new contingent assigned to operation Barkhane in the Sahel region. By 2024, all combatants from the Land Operational Force should be equipped with these new equipment.