The Ministry of Armed Forces (, , ) is the ministry of the

Government of France The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...

in charge of managing the

French Armed Forces 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' milita ...

inside and outside French territory. Its head is the Minister of the Armed Forces. From 1947 until 2017, the Ministry was designated the Ministry of Defence (). It is France's

ministry of defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

Organisation

Minister of the Armed Forces

The head of the department is the Minister of the Armed Forces. The current officeholder has been

Sébastien Lecornu Sébastien Lecornu (; born 11 June 1986) is a French politician who has served as Minister of the Armed Forces in the governments of successive Prime Ministers Élisabeth Borne, Gabriel Attal, Michel Barnier and François BayrouLeigh Thomas and ...

since 2022. He reports directly to the

President of the Republic The President of the Republic is a title used for heads of state and/or heads of government in countries having republican form of government. Designation In most cases the president of a republic is elected, either: * by direct universal s ...

, the Commander-in-Chief of the

. His mission is to organize and manage the country's Defence Policy in liaison with other departments. He is also in charge of mobilizing troops and managing the military infrastructure. He is responsible for the French Armed forces' security to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Chief of the Defence Staff

The Chief of the Defence Staff (CEMA) reports directly to the Minister. He is in charge of conducting operations, troops training, troops inspection, programming the force's future, and gathering and analyzing Intelligence. He is also in charge of maintaining relationships with other countries' armed forces. The position of Chief of the Defence Staff was held by

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Pierre de Villiers Pierre François Marie Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon (born 26 July 1956) known as Pierre de Villiers is a retired Army General of the French Army, and a former Chief of the Defence Staff. Following a disagreement with President Emmanuel Ma ...

until 20 July 2017, when he resigned without an official reason. However, sources suggest that this was done as a protest against the defence budget cuts announced contrary to previous assurances to increase defence spending.

François Lecointre François Gérard Marie Lecointre (; born 6 February 1962) is a French Army general (France), army general who has served as Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honour, Order of the Legion of Honour since 1 February 2023. He previously served as Ch ...

took over as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces the following day.

SGA

The Secretary-General for Administration is in charge of the general administration of the Department. He assists the Minister for: * Elaborating Budget * Legal advice * Human resources policy * Housing resources * Social Management The position is held by Jean-Paul Bodin.

DGA

The ''Direction Générale de l'Armement'' is the

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

service of the Department. It is in charge of furnishing equipment to all branches of the Armed Forces and creating future equipment for them. The service manages more than 80 projects and contributed more than 7.5 billion euros to the national industry in 2011.

Headquarters

The headquarters of the Ministry of the Armies is at the Hotel de Brienne, in the 7th Arrondissement of Paris, but all services have since been moved to a new headquarters. On 5 November 2015, French president

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

inaugurated The new French Defence Ministry headquarters at Balard Site, nicknamed Hexagone Balard or "Balardgon" to mimic its American counterpart

The Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

. Hexagone Balard concentrates all components of the French Armed Forces, and houses the Chief of Staff of the Army, Chief of Staff of the Navy, Chief of Staff of the Air and Space Force, the

Direction générale de l'armement The Direction générale de l'armement (, , abbr. DGA), established in 1961, is the French Government defence procurement and technology agency, responsible within the Ministry of Armed Forces for project management, development, and purchase of ...

, the General Secretary for the Administration and the Chief of the Defence Staff, while the office of the Minister of the Armed Forces remained in the Hotel de Brienne. It is a 250,000 square metres (2,690,978 Sq Ft) building on grounds measuring 39.5 acres (16.5 hectares). Its nickname "Hexagon" was given to the project because of the shape of the ministry building. The centre of the quadrilateral that forms the whole of the West plot consists of two buildings of hexagonal shape.

References

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Armies An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Organisation

Minister of the Armed Forces

Chief of the Defence Staff

SGA

DGA

Headquarters

See also

References