"This exercise is real, we're used to drilling, but here it is different," says Master corporal, Marion. On the outskirts of Castres, in southern France, the gray winter sky is suddenly spangled with khaki parachutes: an airborne assault is conducted against a fictitious enemy, a crucial part of an unprecedented drill to train armies for a major engagement. Six A400M military transport aircrafts rotate at a rapid pace to deliver some 600 men and 12 tons of equipment to a plateau. The Orion drill, which mobilizes 7,000 soldiers until March 11, simulates an intervention in a country ("Arnland") destabilized by well-equipped militias, and bordering a powerful state orchestrating these troubles ("Mercury"). IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES