Кіріспе
Франция әскери күштері
Француз армиясы
Француз теңіз күштері
Француз әуе және ғарыш күштері
Ұлттық жандармерия
Combined military forces of France
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
| штаб-квартирасы = Hexagone Balard, Париж
| веб-сайт =
Combined military forces of France
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
| бас қолбасшы = Президент Эммануэль Макрон
| бас қолбасшы лауазымы = Қарулы күштердің бас қолбасшысы
| бас министр =
| бас министр лауазымы =
| министр = Себастьян Лекорню
| министр лауазымы = Қарулы күштер министрі
| штаб бастығы = Армия генералы Тьерри Буркхард
| штаб бастығы лауазымы = Қорғаныс штабының бастығы
Combined military forces of France
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
| жасы = 17.5
| әскерге шақыру = Жоқ
| әскер саны =
| әскерге жарамды жас = 16–50
| қол жетімді =
| қол жетімді әйелдер =
| жарамды =
| жарамды әйелдер =
| жұмылдыруға жарамды =
| жұмылдыруға жарамды әйелдер =
| әрекеттегі әскер саны = 198,241 (Ұлттық жандармерияны қоспағанда)
| резерв = 25,785
| рейтинг =
| орналасқан жері =
| қаржысы = 60 миллиард АҚШ доллары (8-орын)
| ЖІӨ-ге қатысы = 1.9%
Combined military forces of France
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
| ішкі жеткізушілер =
| шетелдік жеткізушілер =
| импорт = (2014–2022)
Combined military forces of France
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
| тарих = Францияның әскери тарихы; Франция соғыстарының каталогы; Франция қатысқан соғыстар; Франция қатысқан шайқастар
| шендер = Армия шендері; Теңіз күштері шендері; Әуе және ғарыш күштері шендері
Combined military forces of France
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
Француз қарулы күштері – Францияның әскери күштері. Олар төрт әскери түрден тұрады: армия, теңіз күштері, әуе және ғарыш күштері және Ұлттық жандармерия. Ұлттық гвардия француз қарулы күштерінің әскери резервтік күштері болып табылады. Франция конституциясына сәйкес, Франция президенті француз әскерінің бас қолбасшысы болып табылады. Франция әлемдегі қорғаныс бюджеті бойынша сегізінші орында, ал Еуропалық Одақта (ЕО) екінші орында тұр. Сонымен қатар, ол ЕО-дағы ең ірі әскерге ие. 2015 жылғы Credit Suisse есебі бойынша француз қарулы күштері әлемдегі алтыншы ең күшті әскери күш деп саналады.
Combined military forces of France
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
Тарих
Combined military forces of France
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
Францияның әскери тарихы 2000 жылдан астам уақыт бойы соғыстар мен күрестерді қамтиды, олар қазіргі Франция, Үлкен Еуропа және Францияның теңізден тыс аумақтарында болған. Британдық тарихшы Ниалл Фергюсонның айтуынша, француздар 1495 жылдан бері Еуропадағы 125 ірі соғыстың 50-іне қатысқан; бұл Еуропадағы басқа мемлекеттерге қарағанда көп. Олардан кейін 47 соғысқа қатысқан австриялықтар, 44 соғысқа қатысқан испандықтар және 43 соғысқа қатысқан ағылшындар (кейін британдықтар) келеді. Сонымен қатар, біздің заманымыздан бұрын 387 жылдан бастап тіркелген барлық қақтығыстардың ішінде Франция олардың 168-інде соғысқан, 109-да жеңіске жеткен, 49-да жеңілген және 10-ында тең түскен. Галло-римдік қақтығысы б.з.д. 60 жылдан б.з.д. 50 жылға дейін басым болды, римдіктер Юлий Цезардың Галлияны жаулап алуында жеңіске жетті. Рим империясы құлағаннан кейін франктар деп аталатын герман тайпасы Галлияны басқа тайпаларды жеңіп, өздеріне бағындырды. Франция өзінің атын алған «Франция елі» Кловис I және Карл I патшалар тұсында кеңейді. Орта ғасырларда Англиямен және Киелі Рим империясымен бәсекелестік Норман жаулауы және Жүз жылдық соғыс сияқты ірі қақтығыстарға әкелді. Орталықтандырылған монархияның өсуімен, рим дәуірінен бері алғашқы тұрақты армия және артиллерияны қолдану арқылы Франция ағылшындарды өз аумағынан қуып шығарды және орта ғасырлардан Еуропадағы ең күшті мемлекет ретінде шықты, бірақ Италия соғыстарында жеңілгеннен кейін Испанияға бұл мәртебені жоғалтты. 16 ғасырдың соңында Франция дін соғыстарынан қирады, бірақ Отыз жылдық соғыста Испанияны жеңген Франция қайтадан континенттегі ең күшті елге айналды. Сонымен қатар, Франция Азия, Африка және Америкада өзінің алғашқы отарлық империясын құрды. Людовик XIV тұсында Франция өзінің қарсыластарына қарсы әскери үстемдікке қол жеткізді, бірақ күшейіп келе жатқан жау коалицияларына қарсы күрес француздардың амбицияларын тексерді және 18 ғасырдың басында патшалықты банкротқа дейін жеткізді. Францияның қайта өркендеген армиялары испан, поляк және австриялық тәждеріне қарсы династиялық қақтығыстарда жеңіске жетті. Сонымен қатар, Франция өз колонияларына жасалған шабуылдардан қорғанумен айналысты. 18 ғасырдың соңында Ұлыбританиямен жаһандық бәсекелестік жеті жылдық соғысқа әкелді, онда Франция Солтүстік Америкадағы иеліктерін жоғалтты. Бұл елге Еуропадағы үстемдік пен Америка революциялық соғысы арқылы жұбаныш келді, онда Францияның ақша және қару-жарақ түріндегі мол көмегі, сондай-ақ оның армиясы мен теңіз флотының тікелей қатысуы Американың тәуелсіздігіне әкелді. Ішкі саяси толқулар ақырында 23 жыл бойы жалғасқан француз революциялық соғыстары мен Наполеон соғыстарына әкелді. Франция осы кезеңде өзінің билігінің шыңына жетті, Наполеон Бонапарт тұсында Еуропа құрлығына бұрын-соңды болмаған түрде үстемдік етті, бірақ 1815 жылға қарай революцияға дейінгі шекарасына қайта келді. 19 ғасырдың қалған бөлігінде Екінші француз отарлық империясының өсуімен қатар Бельгия, Испания және Мексикадағы француз араласулары болды. Басқа ірі соғыстар Қырымда Ресейге, Италияда Австрияға және Францияның ішінде Пруссияға қарсы болды. Франко-пруссия соғысында жеңілгеннен кейін франко-неміс бәсекелестігі Бірінші дүниежүзілік соғыста қайтадан жанданды. Франция және оның одақтастары осы жолы жеңіске жетті. Соғыстан кейінгі әлеуметтік, саяси және экономикалық толқулар Екінші дүниежүзілік соғысқа әкелді, онда одақтастар Франция шайқасында жеңіліп, француз үкіметі капитуляциялап, авторитарлық режиммен ауыстырылды. Одақтастар, соның ішінде эмиграциядағы еркін француз күштері және кейін босатылған Франция, ақырында Ось державаларынан жеңіске жетті. Нәтижесінде Франция Германияда оккупациялық аймаққа және Біріккен Ұлттар Ұйымының Қауіпсіздік Кеңесіндегі тұрақты орынға ие болды. Екі дүниежүзілік соғыстың ауқымындағы үшінші франко-неміс қақтығысын болдырмау қажеттілігі 1950 жылдардың басында Еуропалық интеграцияның жолын ашты. Франция 1960 жылы Алжирде атом бомбасын сынап, ядролық державаға айналды. 1990 жылдардан бері оның әскери әрекеттері көбінесе НАТО және оның еуропалық серіктестерімен ынтымақтастықта жүзеге асырылады.
Combined military forces of France
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
Халықаралық ұстаным
Combined military forces of France
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
Бүгінде француз әскери доктринасы ұлттық тәуелсіздік, ядролық сүрінбейтін және әскери өзін-өзі қамтамасыз ету қағияттарына негізделген. Франция НАТОның негізін қалаушы мүшесі болып табылады және НАТОны пост-суық соғыс ортасында ішкі және сыртқы тұрғысынан бейімдеу үшін одақтастарымен белсенді жұмыс істеп келеді. 1995 жылдың желтоқсанында Франция НАТОның әскери қанатын, соның ішінде Әскери комитеттің қатысуын арттыратынын жариялады (Франция 1966 жылы НАТОның әскери органдарынан шығып, Ұйымның саяси кеңестеріне толыққанды қатысушы болып қалды). Франция Қауіпсіздік және ынтымақтастық ұйымының және басқа да ынтымақтастық күш-жігерлерінің берік қолдаушысы болып қалады. Париж 1997 жылдың мамырындағы НАТО-Ресей саммитіне төрағалық етті, ол Өзара қатынастар, ынтымақтастық және қауіпсіздік туралы негізгі актіні қабылдауға бағытталған. НАТОдан тыс Франция Африка, Таяу Шығыс және Балқандағы бейбітшілік сақтау операцияларына белсенді және көптеп қатысты, көбінесе осы операцияларда жетекші рөл атқарады. Франция материктік Франциядан тыс операциялар үшін кішірек, жылдам жұмылдырылатын және жақсы бейімделген кәсіби армияны дамыту үшін негізгі қайта құруды жүзеге асырды. Қайта құрудың негізгі элементтері: персоналды, базаларды және штаб-квартираларды қысқарту, жабдықтарды және қару-жарақ өнеркәсібін ұйымдастыру. Суық соғыс аяқталғаннан бері Франция қаруды бақылауға және таралудың алдын алуға жоғары басымдық берді. Тынық мұхитындағы француз ядролық сынақтары және Rainbow Warrior кемесінің батып кетуі Францияның одақтастарымен, Тынық мұхиты мемлекеттерімен (әсіресе Жаңа Зеландиямен) және әлемдік қоғамдық пікірмен қарым-қатынастарын нашарлатты. Франция 1992 жылы Ядролық қаруды таратпау шартына келісті және 1995 жылы оны шексіз ұзартуды қолдады. Әуедегі алты ядролық сынақ сериясынан кейін...
Combined military forces of France
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
French Army
French Navy
French Air and Space Force
National Gendarmerie
| headquarters = Hexagone Balard, Paris
| website =
| commander in chief = President Emmanuel Macron
| commander in chief title = Chief of the Armed Forces
| chief minister =
| chief minister title =
| minister = Sébastien Lecornu
| minister title = Minister of the Armed Forces
| chief of staff = Général d'armée Thierry Burkhard
| chief of staff title = Chief of the Defence Staff
| age = 17.5
| conscription = None
| manpower data =
| manpower age = 16–50
| available =
| available f =
| fit =
| fit f =
| reaching =
| reaching f =
| active = 198,241 (excl. The National Gendarmerie)
| reserve = 25,785
| ranked =
| deployed =
| amount = US$ 60 billion (ranked 8th)
|percent GDP = 1.9%
| domestic suppliers =
| foreign suppliers =
| imports = (2014–2022)
| history = Military history of FranceWarfare directory of FranceWars involving FranceBattles involving France
| ranks = Army ranksNavy ranksAir and Space Force ranks
The French Armed Forces' are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander in chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU. A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military. History
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco Prussian War, Franco German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. International stance
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de dissuasion), and military self sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and the armaments industry. Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. White Papers
2008
On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty five member commission charged with a wide ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. 2013
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. Recent operations
There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon Israel border as part of the cease fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large scale international operation, and runs exercises In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of a no fly zone over northern Libya, during the Libyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti Gaddafi forces. This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and the Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. Exercises
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
CRUZEX, joint aerial combat training exercises in Brazil. Caraibe 2013, every two years in the Caribbean, centering on Martinique and Guadeloupe. Croix du Sud, in New Caledonia every two years with Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other Pacific nations. Varuna, an annual naval exercise with India. NATO Air Defender 2023, the largest deployment exercise in NATO's history. In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. Personnel
The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as chef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War, the use of non volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with the Gendarmerie Nationale). It breaks down as follows (2022):
The French Army; 118,600 personnel. The French Air and Space Force; 43,597 personnel. The French Navy; 36,044 personnel. Tri service DHS, SEO, and DGA; 17,647 personnel in medical, support and administrative roles, and in the acquisition of weapon systems. The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice. Organisation and service branches
Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches, the Army, the National Navy, the Air and Space Force, the National Gendarmerie, and the National Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:
French Army (Armée de terre)
Special Forces
Airborne Units (Troupes aéroportées)
Infantry (Infanterie)
Armoured Cavalry (Arme blindée cavalerie)
Artillery (Artillerie)
Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
Troupes de Marine
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation légére de l'armée de terre, ALAT)
Engineers (Génie)
Paris Fire Brigade (brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris)
Signal Corps (Transmissions)
Transport and logistics (Train)
Matériel (Supply)
Intelligence (Renseignement)
National Navy (Marine nationale)
Parachute Units of the French Navy
Naval Infantry and Naval Commandos (Fusiliers Marins)
Naval Air Arm (Aviation navale)
Submarine Force (Forces sous marines)
Naval Action Force (Force d'action navale)
The Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy. French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace)
French Space Command
Parachute Units of the French Air and Space Force
Air and space force ground troops (Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air)
Paratroopers/Special forces (Commando parachutiste de l'air'')
Territorial Air Defence
Ұлттық күзет (Garde nationale)
2016 жылы қайта жандандырылған Ұлттық гвардия Қарулы Күштердің ресми негізгі әскери және полиция резервтік қызметі болып табылады. Ол Қарулы Күштер Министрлігінің бағынысында болып, резервтік күш ретінде қызмет етеді. Сонымен қатар, төтенше жағдайларда құқық қорғау органдарының күшін арттырады және Франция аумағында немесе шетелде орналасқан кезде әскери қызметкерлерді нығайтуға көмектеседі.
Reactivated in 2016, the National Guard serves as the official primary military and police reserve service of the Armed Forces. It is placed under the jurisdiction of Ministry of the Armed Forces and serves as a reserve force. It also doubles as a force multiplier for law enforcement personnel during contingencies and to reinforce military personnel whenever being deployed within France and abroad.