November 13, 2009: As French troops become more actively involved in Afghan combat, the military is scrambling to upgrade French forces so that the troops can get the kind of support they see their American allies getting. So in the next year, France is spending several hundred million dollars on autocannon pods for their helicopters, and targeting pods for their jets. Ground troops are getting more satellite communications capability, and additional armor for their vehicles. Air and ground forces are getting more missiles, and the aircraft will be dropping lots of smart bombs.