| French:Ministère des Armées | |
 Official logotype | |
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| Ministry overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 31 October 1947; 78 years ago (1947-10-31)[1] |
| Preceding agencies | |
| Jurisdiction | Government of France |
| Headquarters | Hôtel de Brienne Paris 7e,French Republic -Hexagone Balard Paris 15e,French Republic 48°51′35″N2°19′10″E / 48.85972°N 2.31944°E /48.85972; 2.31944 48°50′8″N2°16′34″E / 48.83556°N 2.27611°E /48.83556; 2.27611 |
| Annual budget | €54.494 billion[2] |
| Ministers responsible | |
| Ministry executive | |
| Website | www |
The Ministry of Armed Forces (French:Ministère des Armées,pronounced[ministɛʁdez‿aʁme],lit. 'Ministry of the Armies') is the ministry of theGovernment of France in charge of managing theFrench Armed Forces inside and outside French territory. Its head is theMinister of the Armed Forces. From 1947 until 2017, the Ministry was designated theMinistry of Defence (French:Ministère de la Défense). It is France'sministry of defence.
The head of the department is theMinister of the Armed Forces. The current officeholder has beenSébastien Lecornu since 2022. He reports directly to thePresident of the Republic, theCommander-in-Chief of theFrench Armed Forces.
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 toParliament.[3]
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TheChief 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 byFrench ArmyGeneralPierre de Villiers 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.[4]French ArmyGeneralFrançois Lecointre took over as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces the following day.[5]
The Secretary-General for Administration is in charge of the general administration of the Department. He assists the Minister for:
The position is held by Jean-Paul Bodin.[6]
TheDirection Générale de l'Armement is theresearch and development 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.
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 presidentFrançois Hollande inaugurated The new French Defence Ministry headquarters at Balard Site, nicknamedHexagone Balard or "Balardgon" to mimic its American counterpartThe Pentagon.[7]
Hexagone Balard concentrates all components of the French Armed Forces, and houses theChief of Staff of the Army,Chief of Staff of the Navy,Chief of Staff of the Air and Space Force, theDirection générale de l'armement, the General Secretary for the Administration and theChief of the Defence Staff, while the office of theMinister 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.[8]
