“As long as the current dynamic continues, we should be able to stage a classic, beautiful 14th[of July]on the Champs Elysées,” the military governor of Paris, General Christophe Abad, told journalists on Friday.
In 2020, the parade format was replaced by a limited ceremony on the Place de la Concorde, with a special tribute to the military and health workers who were mobilised during the health crisis.
It was the first time since the Second World War that the parade was cancelled.
Bastille Day Parade
This year, the stands are expected to accommodate around 25,000 people. The seated area will not have formal spacing, but social distancing and masks will be mandatory. The stands that cater for people who will be on their feet will have one person every 4 square metres. The general public is expected to be allowed on the Champs Elysées.
The parade will consist of 5,000 participants, including 4,300 soldiers on foot, 71 aircraft, 25 helicopters, 221 vehicles and 200 horses of the Republican Guard.
This year’s theme will be "Winning the future", a reference to both the country’s collective capacity to overcome the difficulties linked to the health crisis, as well as the military’s ability to take on more technologically sophisticated foes by developing its own technologically advanced strategies.
Takuba in the spotlight
The new light reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft (ALSR), used to collect intelligence, will take part for the first time in the traditional flypast opened by the Patrouille de France.
Among the troops in the spotlight will be the European special forces grouping Takuba, created by France to accompany Malian forces in combat and to which eight nations (Belgium, Estonia, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Sweden, and France) contribute.
However, its operations were suspended on Thursday, as were all joint Franco-Malian operations, in response to a second coup in Mali in nine months.
The Chad March Regiment (RMT) will open the Army’s contribution to the parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the "oath of Koufra" by Colonel Philippe Leclerc to his troops of which the RMT is the heir.
The oath refers to the oath Leclerc in took in March 1941, which promised after capturing the Italian fort of Koufra in the middle of the Libyan desert, that he and his troops would continue the fight until the tricolour flag flies again over Paris and Strasbourg.
On the Navy side, the crew of the nuclear attack submarine (NAS) Emeraude will be honoured after an eight-month long mission in the Indo-Pacific region, including a passage in the South China Sea. The crew of the first new generation SNA Suffren, which will leave on a mission in the autumn, will also be invited.
The French Air Force will parade its new Space Command troops, along with airmen involved in the Skyros mission earlier this year, during which four Rafales, two A400Ms and an A330 Phénix tanker made stopovers in India, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Greece.
The parade, which will last about two hours, will end with a performance of a choir of 120 young people including students from military high schools, members of the civic service, the volunteer military service (SMV) and volunteer firefighters.
