The Minister for Defence is consulted prior to any dissolution, as provided for in 3° of article L. 6133-9, of a health cooperation grouping in which an army hospital or other element of the army health service participates. When the Minister for Defence argues that this dissolution would be likely to compromise the priority mission of providing health support to the armed forces, which is carried out by the armed forces hospitals and the other elements of the armed forces health service, the dissolution may only take place after the expiry of a period of time sufficient to ensure the continuity of this mission. This period, set by the Minister for Defence, may not exceed six months.