The Command Doctrine and Training Centre (CDEC) plays a key role in developing and disseminating thinking on the current and future use of land forces in France.

He is a recognized network facilitator, now reaching wide audiences in the academic, industrial, political and international arenas. Whether in terms of the work it conducts or the teaching it provides in its four schools, the CDEC can be of great help to its members.The CDEC can rely on a very solid network of researchers, civilian and military experts, external contributors, operational reservists and citizens. The deepening of tangible interactions withFrench and foreign think tanks, with the world of higher education and, of course, with its counterparts in the joint forces and the European Union.abroad, enables it to strengthen the quality of the training and multidisciplinary re-flections it conducts, while at the same time giving it greater visibility and legitimacy through its publications and the events it organises.

The reinforcement of this ability to usefully federate so many actors of the reflection on air-land operations and their environment, is the main challenge of the creation of the Earth Reflection Centre two years ago. This laboratory aims to rationalise, complete and perpetuate a hitherto informal system and enable the CDEC to strengthen its role as an incubator of ideas for the benefit of military thinking.

It is in this dynamic that an international prospective forum was organised at the Military School on 12 and 13 June 2019, bringing together seventeen nations, on the theme of the principles of war in 2035. The aim of this event was to encourage the sharing of ideas between allies, researchers and industrialists on the fundamental principles that underpin the doctrines of Western armies and their understanding of the operational environment over a fifteen-year horizon. The quality of the debates during this event showed the richness of the reflections developed by Western military thinkers since the 18th century. This heritage, which is still shared by all Western armies today, is a guarantee of cultural interoperability.

While approaches to the phenomenon of warfare and the understanding of the operational environment over the medium term may differ significantly between allies, it is clear that our cultures all rest on a common intellectual foundation and common principles. Knowing and understanding these points of convergence and divergence among allies before engaging together in combat is probably one of the most essential conditions for effective interaction and victory in combat.

This is precisely what this forum has made possible, by making these famous principles of war a field of reflection conducive to a great many subsequent questions.

The way is open. Enjoy reading!

Major General Pascal Facon Director of the Doctrine Centre

and leadership training