During exercises Brilliant Jump and Cold Response, the Light armoured Battalion will consist of approximately 500 infantry and cavalry soldiers, all from the 1st Infantry Regiment (1er RI) and the 3rd Hussar Regiment (3e RH), two units belonging to the Franco-German Brigade. Equipped with the renovated AMX 10 RC armoured reconnaissance vehicles and the GRIFFON armoured infantry vehicles, the French soldiers of the Light armoured Battalion symbolise the hardening of the regiments and the increase in training in very cold areas, which have been the rhythm of the regiments' activities in the last years.
In Rena, the battalion will be placed under the command of Colonel Sommerlat, commander of the 3rd Hussars Regiment. The 3e RH was founded by Count Esterhazy in 1764 and joined the Franco-German Brigade in 1990. Its mixed organisation (three combat squadrons and two recce and intervention squadrons) allows it to carry out all the missions devolved to a light cavalry unit: reconnaissance, area control, armoured raid in depth but also intervention in difficult environments. Its numerous overseas deployments, such as in Lebanon as part of the UN mission, in Mali as part of Operation Barkhane and in Djibouti, give it extensive operational experience. Mounted on renovated AMX 10 RC armoured vehicles, armoured front vehicles (VAB) and light armoured vehicles (VBL), the Hussars are also equipped with the HK 417 assault rifle, the medium-range missile (MMP) and the SCAR-H PR precision rifle.
Created in 1479, the 1st infantry regiment is the oldest regiment in France. Fully engaged in its SCORPION transformation, it carries out an intense joint operational preparation, seizing every opportunity to maintain and develop its tactical skills and cultivate its interoperability. As member of the Franco-German Brigade since 2014, the regiment deploys its companies every year overseas or in the most rustic fields such as the Sahel-Saharan strip, while arming operational military partnership missions such as Benin. The new GRIFFON armoured infantry vehicles arm the five combat companies of the 1st Infantry Regiment as well as its support company. The infantrymen have at their disposal the most modern individual and collective armament of the Army, such as the medium-range missile and the HK 416 assault rifles.
Today, both regiments are participating in the RICA/RBCA (Army Corps Infantry Regiment / Army Corps Armoured Regiment) transformation exploratory mandate, which allows them to work in depth for the benefit of a corps or a division, all within the framework of a fight against an enemy with equal capabilities.
The standard of the 3rd Hussar Regiment bears the Croix de Guerre 1914-1918, its fourragère in the colours of the latter as well as a citation in the army order. In January 1945, it was awarded the Second World War cross with silver star. Finally, in 2001, it was the Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg who awarded a German distinction to the standard, the Fahnenband of the Land, which was also awarded to all units of the 10th Panzerdivision that were engaged in Bosnia and Kosovo in 2000.
The flag of the 1st Infantry Regiment bears the fourragère in the colours of the military medal awarded in 1918, decorated with two olive for the crosses of war 1914-1918 and 1939-1945. It also carries the fourragère in the colours of the Croix de la Valeur Militaire awarded in 2013 for its actions in Afghanistan, a war cross with six commendations, the Resistance Medal, and Croix de la Valeur Militaire with three bronze palms.
The 3rd Hussar Regiment has the motto 'He is worth more than one', which it owes to Count Ladislas Esterhazy. The 1st infantry regiment has two mottos. In 1734, during the siege of Parma, an officer of the Provence regiment asked Count Charles de Rohan-Rochefort, the regiment's "mestre de camp", if he wanted to be relieved. He replied "Monsieur, vous saurez qu'on ne relève pas Picardie" ("Sir, you will know we don't relieve Picardie"), the second part of which was adopted as one of the mottos. The regiment also retains its motto given by Louis XIV to the Colonel-General regiment in 1784: "Praeteriti fides, exemplumque futuri" ("fidelity to the past, example for the future").