The French military vessel l’Aigle (“the Eagle”) was deployed during March 2021 in the territorial waters of Kuwait. This ship – a mine hunter – belongs to a French mine warfare group that comes on a regular basis to the Arabian Gulf for several months, to conduct operations in coordination with the local Navies. This year again, l’Aigle traveled through mine-hunting sectors where she carried out measurements at sea, in order to gain a better knowledge of the underwater environment and thus contribute to the safety of maritime traffic in Kuwaiti waters. She also participated in an exercise with the Kuwaiti naval force, in order to maintain the excellent level of cooperation between the two Navies. But this year the deployment had a special flavor, as it was the thirtieth anniversary of the liberation of Kuwait. L’Aigle was already present in Gulf waters in 1990-91, when she took part in Operation Daguet to liberate Kuwait. Commissioned shortly before (1987),she carried the most modern technologies for the detection, identification and neutralization of underwater mines. Today, these technologies are old but still effective. They are complemented by human expertise. In particular, l’Aigle can count on military personnel highly skilled in diving and mine clearance.
Madame Anne-Claire Legendre, Ambassador of France, visited l’Aigle when she was stopping at the port of Shuaikh. She was perfectly received by the commander Arnaud le Béguec, who introduced him to his crew and its missions.
L’Aigle will certainly return to Kuwaiti waters in the coming years, before she retires after nearly 40 years of good service.
