Amiral Édouard Guillaud (born 10 July 1953)L'amiral Guillaud devient chef d'état-major
AFP-''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French Newspaper of recor ...

'', 27 January 2010 is a retired French Naval Officer and Admiral. He devoted a significant part of his career to the design of the ''Charles De Gaulle'' aircraft carrier, and eventually captained

carrier Carrier may refer to: Entertainment * ''Carrier'' (album), a 2013 album by The Dodos * ''Carrier'' (board game), a South Pacific World War II board game * ''Carrier'' (TV series), a ten-part documentary miniseries that aired on PBS in April 20 ...

de Gaulle. He served as Chief of the general staff headquarters of the Armies CEMA from 25 February 2010 to 2014.

Biography

Early life

Édouard Guillaud is the son of journalist Jean-Louis Guillaud (french: Jean-Louis Guillaud), former president of Agence France-Presse and

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is pa ...

. He studied at the

Lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

Hector Berlioz in

Vincennes Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attach ...

and at the Private Lycée Sainte-Geneviève in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

Military career

Édouard joined the

École Navale École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

in 1973.
Sauvegarde maritime, bilan de l'action de la marine nationale 2005/2006
French Ministry of Defence As an

Enseigne de vaisseau Ensign (; Late Middle English, from Old French (), from Latin (plural)) is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was trad ...

( vessel Ensign), he first served on the patroller ''La Paimpolaise'' from 1976 to 1978, monitoring the nuclear trials in

Mururoa Moruroa (Mururoa, Mururura), also historically known as Aopuni, is an atoll which forms part of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is located about southeast of Tahiti. Administratively Moruroa Atoll ...

.L'amiral Guillaud, un marin très "ops"

Jean-Dominique Merchet Jean-Dominique Merchet (born 26 October 1959 in Besançon) is a French journalist working for the daily newspaper '' L'Opinion''. He specializes in strategy, defense and military issues and often appears on radio and TV shows, notably ''C'est da ...

, ''

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France ...

'' Afterwards, he served consecutively for one year on two French nuclear ballistic missile

submarines A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely ...

SNLE A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. The United States Navy's hull classification symbols for ballistic missile submarines are SSB and SSBN � ...

''L'Indomptable'' and ''Le Redoutable'', following which he took command in 1979 of the minesweeper ''Lobelia'', for another year until 1980. The next year, he studied for a specialisation in gunnery and missiles. In the early 1980s, Guillaud was sent in exchange in the United States (U.S.). As a Lieutenant de Vaisseau (

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

) from 1981 to 1984, he then served as service chief on the

aviso An ''aviso'' was originally a kind of dispatch boat or "advice boat", carrying orders before the development of effective remote communication. The term, derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word for "advice", "notice" or "warning", an ' ...

''Amyot d'Inville'' and the squadron escorteurs launch missile ''Du Chayla'', then as a service operations chief on the squadron escorteur launch missile ''Kersaint'', cruising off the seas between

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

in 1983. From 1984 to 1987, he worked on the nuclear aircraft carrier programme, particularly on

expert system In artificial intelligence, an expert system is a computer system emulating the decision-making ability of a human expert. Expert systems are designed to solve complex problems by reasoning through bodies of knowledge, represented mainly as if� ...

s in the programming environment of the ship.Défenseur de la mer patrie

, ''

'' He was promoted to

Capitaine de corvette Corvette captain is a rank in many navies which theoretically corresponds to command of a corvette (small warship). The equivalent rank in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth, and United States is lieutenant commander. The Royal Canadian Navy use ...

in 1985. In 1987 he took command of the

BATRAL The Bâtiment de Transport Léger (abbreviated BATRAL; "Light ferry ship") are small landing ships of the French Navy. Also known as ''Champlain'' class by the lead ship, they have been used for regional transport and patrol needs in French Overs ...

''Dumont d'Urville'' for one year, taking part in the operations related to the

Ouvéa cave hostage taking The Ouvéa cave hostage taking occurred from 22 April 1988 to 5 May 1988 on the island of Ouvéa, New Caledonia, a south Pacific island under control of France. During the hostage taking and seizure of a brigade of gendarmerie, members of an ind ...

Ouvéa Ouvéa () or Uvea is a commune in the Loyalty Islands Province of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. The settlement of Fayaoué , on Ouvéa Island, is the administrative centre of the commune. Geography Ouv� ...

, New Caledonia. Guillaud went on to study at the Superior Naval War School (french: École Supérieure de Guerre Navale, ESGN) and the School of Military Application for Atomic Energy (french: École des Applications Militaires de l'Energie Atomique, EAMEA), rising to Capitaine de frégate in 1989. He specialised in

nuclear engineering Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the application of breaking down atomic nuclei (fission) or of combining atomic nuclei ( fusion), or with the application of other sub-atomic processes based on the principles of nu ...

, obtaining a degree in 1990. In 1991, with the start of the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

, Guillaud was sent on the ''Clemenceau'', where he served as a Maneuver Officer. In 1992, he took command of the aviso-escort '' Enseigne de vaisseau Henry'' (F749). In 1993, he re-integrated the design team for the nuclear carrier. Guillaud was promoted to

Capitaine de vaisseau Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navy, navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The rank is equal to the army rank of colonel and air force rank of group captain. Equivalent ranks worldwide in ...

in 1996. The following year, he took the position of second officer on the ''Charles De Gaulle'', which was then being completed in Brest. From 1999 to 2001, Guillaud captained the nuclear carrier ''Charles De Gaulle'', supervising carrier de Gaulle's trials and fittings. The next year, he studied at the Centre des hautes études militaires CHEM and at the

Institut des hautes études de Défense nationale The ''Institut des hautes études de défense nationale'' (IHEDN) (Institute of Advanced Studies in National Defence) is a French public academic institution for research, education and promotion of expertise and sensitization towards defence matte ...

IHEDN.

Admiral

From 2002 to 2004, he served as the assistant (french: adjoint) chief to the

navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It include ...

of the

Chief of the Military Staff of the President of the Republic The Chief of the Military Staff of the President of the Republic (''Chef d'état-major particulier du président de la République'') is a role in the military of France, military and Cabinet of France, government of France, heading the president of ...

. Between 2004 and 2006, Contre-Amiral ( Counter-Admiral) Guillaud was

préfet maritime A maritime prefect ( French: ''Préfet maritime'') is a servant of the French State who exercises authority over the sea in a particular region under French jurisdiction, known as a maritime arrondissement (''Arrondissement maritime''). His admini ...

for the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or (Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kan ...

and the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

. He was promoted to Vice-Amiral ( Vice-Admiral) on 1 April 2006. The same year, he was called by

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as ...

to take on the position of

CEMP-P.R., replacing General Georgelin; Guillaud took the office on 4 October, and was confirmed in this role in May 2007 after the election of

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Sei ...

. As a Vice-amiral d'escadre ( Squadron vice-admiral), he was promoted to Amiral ( Admiral) in December 2007. Guillaud has taken office as chief of the general staff headquarters of the Armies CEMA on 25 February 2010, and is the second Admiral of France to take this

post Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service **Iraqi Post, Ira ...

. Since 19 March 2011, he has commanded the French forces enforcing the

Libyan no-fly zone Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, Ethnic group, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and Religion in Libya, religious affiliations, as well as other aspec ...

. In 2013 he commanded the French Forces in the

Mali Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Mali War , partof = the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel and the War on terror , image = MaliWar.svg , image_size = 380 , caption = Military situation ...

. He left active duty service on 14 February 2014 when général

Pierre de Villiers Pierre François Marie Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon (born 26 July 1956) ''dit'' Pierre de Villiers is an Army General of the French Army and a former Chief of the Defence Staff. Following a disagreement with President Emmanuel Macron, who i ...

succeeded him at head of the armies. He assumed a French armament directorate until 2017.

Decorations and medals

*Honorary Corporal of the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, cavalry, engineers, airborne troops. It was created in 1831 to allow foreign nationals into the French Army ...

Sources and references