Zouerate 1978: Supporting Air Operations, an Army Team Amidst France's African Strategy.

Abstract

In 1975, Morocco and Mauritania shared between them the territory of the former Spanish Western Sahara. A liberation movement supported by Algeria, the Polisario Front, opposed this situation and launched devastating raids, mainly into Mauritania. To help this country, in 1977-1978, France carried out operation Lamantin. It consisted of surveillance and attack aircraft stationed in Senegal, and small Army teams deployed in Mauritanian garrisons. Zouerate, a small Northern town where a very important iron ore mine produced 1/6 of the country's GNP, had been the target of two attacks before the French team came. The missions of these eight paratroopers, quite similar to some of the US Special Forces, were to comfort the European technicians, assess the situation, advise the Mauritanians, prepare the air strikes, and secure a possible downed aircraft.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1997
Accession Number
ADA326620

Entities

People

  • Philippe M. Voute

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerial Warfare
  • Agreements
  • Air Defense
  • Air Force
  • Aircraft Equipment
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Aircrafts
  • Armored Vehicles
  • Central Europe
  • Downed Aircraft
  • Fighter Aircraft
  • Governments
  • Reconnaissance
  • Students
  • Training
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).
  • International Relations and Conflict Resolution
  • International Relations, focusing on Korea-Africa and North Korea-South Korea relations, and Nigeria-Latin American Relations.