Ministry of Armed Forces (France)

The Ministry of Armed Forces (French: Ministère des Armées, lit. 'Ministry of the Armies') is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of managing the French Armed Forces inside and outside French soil. Its head is the Minister of the Armed Forces. From 1947 until 2017, the Ministry was designated the Ministry of Defence (French: Ministère de la Défense). It is France's ministry of defence.

Ministry of Armed Forces
French: Ministère des Armées
Official logotype
Ministry overview
Formed31 October 1947 (1947-10-31)[1]
Preceding agencies
JurisdictionGovernment of France
HeadquartersHôtel de Brienne
Paris 7e, French Republic
- Hexagone Balard
Paris 15e, French Republic
48°51′35″N 2°19′10″E
48°50′8″N 2°16′34″E
Employees271,268[2]
Annual budget€54.494 billion[3]
Ministers responsible
Ministry executive
Websitewww.defense.gouv.fr

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 since 2022. Currently, he reports directly to the President of the Republic, the Commander-in-Chief of the French Armed Forces.

His mission is to organize and manage the country Defense Policy in liaison with other departments. He is also in charge of mobilizing troops and managing the military infrastructure. He is responsible of the French Armed forces security to the Parliament.[4]

Chief of the Defence Staff
Hexagone Balard, the headquarters of the French Armed Forces

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 forces future, and gathering and analyzing Intelligence. He is also in charge of maintaining relationships with other countries.

The position of Chief of the Defence Staff was held by French Army General Pierre de Villiers until 20 July 2017, when he handed his resignation without an official reason. However sources suggest that this was done as a protest against the announced defence budget cuts in contradiction to previous assurances for increased defence spendings.[5] French Army General François Lecointre took over as Chief of Staff of the Armies on the following day.[6]

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
  • House resources
  • Social Management

The position is held by Jean-Paul Bodin.[7]

DGA

The Direction Générale de l'Armement is the research and development service of the Department. It is in charge of furnishing equipment to all branches of the Armed Forces and creating the future equipment of the armies. The service manages more than 80 projects and commanded 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 been moved to a new headquarters.

On 5 November 2015, French president François Hollande inaugurated The new French Defence Ministry headquarters at Balard Site, nicknamed Hexagone Balard or "Balardgon" in reference to its American counterpart The Pentagon.[8]

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 General Secretary for the Administration and the Chief of the Defence Staff, while the office of the Minister of the Armed Forces stays in the Hotel de Brienne. It is a 250 000 square metres (2690978 Sq Ft) building on a 39.5 acre (16.5 hectares) ground.

Hexagone Balard is the most secured building in continental Europe. Its nickname "Hexagon" was given to the project because of the shape of the ministry building. The center of the quadrilateral that forms the whole of the West plot consists of two buildings of hexagonal shape.[9]

See also

References
  1. Government of the French Republic (31 October 1947). "Décret n°47-2110 relatif aux attributions du ministre des forces armées". gallica.bnf.fr. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  2. Government of the French Republic. "Le budget de l'État voté pour 2019 en quelques chiffres (Loi de finances initiale)" (PDF). Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  3. Government of the French Republic. "Décret n° 2018-1355 du 28 décembre 2018 portant répartition des crédits et découverts autorisés par la loi n° 2018-1317 du 28 décembre 2018 de finances pour 2019". Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  4. "Le rôle du ministère de la défense" (in French). Ministère de la Défense. 2014-02-24. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  5. "Head of French armed forces quits after clashing with Macron". The Independent. 2017-07-19. Archived from the original on 2022-05-15. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  6. "Macron names François Lecointre new armed forces chief - France 24". France 24. 2017-07-19. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  7. "Ses missions" (in French). Ministère de la Défense. 2014-04-04. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  8. "Le " Balardgone " en images" (in French). Le Monde. 2015-05-11. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  9. "Hexagone Balard 2015" (in French). Ministère des Armées. 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
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