Land Forces commander General Baugnée announces new priorities for Belgian Army.

Maj.Gen. Jean-Pol Baugnée was promoted commander of the Belgian army’s Land Component (Composante Terre) on June 7, 2023. He has gathered a wide experience as a commander of tank and infantry units, then at the General Headquarters’ DG MR (Materiel/Equipment). At the opportunity of the rehearsal organized at Peutie Barracks for the Belgian National Day military parade (21st July), he explained to Army Recognition what he plans to achieve. What follows is a quote of his own words.
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Maj.Gen. Jean-Pol Baugnée, the new commander of the Belgian Army's Land Component, answers Army Recognition's questions during the rehearsal of the National Day military parade in Peutie (Picture source:  Army Recognition)

‘’By 2027-2028, all the vehicles of the Belgian Army’s Land Component will have been replaced with new ones, which means that none of the vehicles that are parading on the 21st of July 2023 will remain in service (except the brand-new DAF CF tactical trucks and very recent Soframe CRV Taurus armored recovery vehicles).

‘’What is at stake, at the light of the Ukraine war, is, first, to always keep ready. Each and every soldier of the Land Component will have to be ready to take part to an operation, be it abroad or on the national territory. We very closely look at what happens in Ukraine and we shall adapt our capabilities accordingly, within the shortest period of time possible. For instance, we observe the importance taken by drones. My vision is to equip the Land Component with much more of them within the close future.

‘’The Belgian Land Component comprises two capabilities: the motorized capability for which we have a strategic partnership with France and, hence, for which we shall be equipped with exactly the same materiel as the French. But it goes much further: it also concerns the common training of our personnel and who to go in operation. The second capability consists in the special forces that are also renewing nearly their entire equipment, a process that should be completed by 2030. This improves the interoperability with our partners, in view of acting with more dissuasive effect and efficiency in operation.

‘’We already managed to get 2,500 recruits per year, which is an enormous improvement in comparison with the past. We recently increased the salaries, along with other advantages (compensations) for each member of the military. We are attracting personnel with financial incitements but also material ones: the fact of inducting modern and efficient equipment plays a significant role in attracting new recruits.

‘’Not all the army members have received the new camo uniform. A little part of them still wears the previous pattern. It is a matter of weeks. It is achieved in the framework of a partnership with the Belgian defense industry that will spear over more than 15 years and amount to 400 million euros. It is very important, as it enables us to give feedback to the industry which allows us to adapt the clothing. We are targeting an even stronger partnership with the defense industry: it goes with our strategic autonomy. We can no longer afford to buy materiel that doesn't come from the European Union or from the European continent. The partnership with the industry enables us to get more autonomy, to increase our resilience, and to establish a better dialogue: it is much easier to discuss with a Belgian or European industry than with an industry located outside these borders, targeting to always improve the materiel delivered.

‘’Regarding the military parade of the 21st of July, what needs to be understood is that we have professional soldiers progressively being equipped with modern and efficient materiel, which facilitates the recruitment by an army appearing under its best aspect.

‘’My message is first ‘Be always ready!’. My second message is ‘Train!’. I want more ‘rustic’ training because I think that the future crises in which we shall be involved will be harsher and longer than the current ones. So, we have to train in a more rustic way but also in a better way. I invest a lot of hope in the reserve which will enable us to achieve missions that we cannot fulfill now, and to fill active units that currently lack personnel, then bring them to 100 percent’’.

Among the new items demonstrated by the Belgian Army during the 2023 National Day parade are DAF CF trucks in different variants, with and without armored cabs made in Belgium (Picture source: Army Recognition)

Defense News July 2023