From May 17 to June 4, 2026, the French Forces in the West Indies (FAA) will organize an exercise in the Antilles region called CARAÏBES-26.
The natural disasters that threaten and regularly strike the West Indies transcend borders and require a rapid response from the affected states, as well as coordinated action from regional actors.
To prepare for these situations, the FAA organizes an inter-service, inter-ministerial, and allied exercise in the West Indies region called CARAÏBES every two years.
CARAÏBES-26 is based on a scenario of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR), involving the participation of French armed forces stationed in the West Indies and French Guiana, armed forces from Caribbean countries, as well as regional and non-governmental organizations: prefectures of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Saint-Martin through their inter-ministerial defense and civil protection service (SIDPC) and the inter-service zone headquarters for the West Indies (EMIZA), departmental fire and rescue services (SDIS) of Guadeloupe and Saint-Martin, National Gendarmerie, Red Cross, and the inter-regional platform for the Americas and the Caribbean (PIRAC).
A real-condition exercise, CARAÏBES-26 simulates the intervention of French sovereignty forces during an emergency operation to respond to the arrival of a major Category 4 cyclone, which strikes the southern and then the northern West Indies in the days following its passage. It also includes a security operation on a foreign territory that was simulated on the island of Marie-Galante from May 17 to 22, with the participation of the embarked tactical group (GTE) and the aeromaritime means of the JEANNE D’ARC mission, which would have arrived as reinforcements from France following the outbreak of the climatic crisis and the resulting insecurity.
Divided into three sequences, each of which allows working on a typical phase of a natural disaster crisis in Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Saint-Martin.
CARAÏBES-26 consolidates inter-administration collaboration between the FAA and state services in the context of crisis management in the region.
It also strengthens cooperation with allied and partner countries of the FAA in population assistance missions through the integration of troops and/or observers from Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, the Netherlands, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Tuesday, June 2, 2026: media sequence in Saint-Martin
• 10:30 AM: sequence at the Belle Créole site: presentation of the exercise and interviews in the presence of Mr. Cyrille Le Vély, Prefect of Saint-Martin, Rear Admiral Jean-Baptiste Souberie, Commander-in-Chief of the French Forces in the West Indies, Mr. Luc F. E. Mercelina, Prime Minister of Sint Maarten, and Mrs. Julia Crouch, Governor of Anguilla;
• 11:00 AM: presentation of the exercise's setup by a military personnel, a member of the Saint-Martin territorial fire and rescue service (STIS), and a member of the Guadeloupe military adapted service regiment (RSMA), along with the intervention actions of civilian and military entities, French and foreign, following the (fictional) passage of the cyclone;
• 11:45 AM: departure from the Belle Créole site to the Happy Bay site by road;
• 12:15 PM: presentation of the military device and military and civilian means of aid to victims deployed on the Happy Bay site: triage area for the wounded, supplies of first necessities...
• 1:00 PM: end of the media sequence.
Special arrangements for the press
Media wishing to cover this exercise are invited to make themselves known by email to:
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before Monday, June 1, 2026.
The following must be specified:
• the number of participating individuals;
• first and last name of each participant;
• the name of the media outlet and its contact details (email + phone);
• attach to the accreditation request a scanned copy of a valid ID (front/back) (national ID or passport) as well as press cards associated with each participant.