Military

Military#

French Armed Forces (Forces Armées Françaises): Army (l’Armee de Terre; includes Foreign Legion), Navy (Marine Nationale), Air and Space Force (l’Armee de l’Air et de l’Espace); includes Air Defense), National Guard (Garde Nationale), National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie Nationale) (2025); note 1: under the direction of the Ministry of the Interior, the civilian National Police and the National Genda…

Forces

French Armed Forces (Forces Armées Françaises): Army (l’Armee de Terre; includes Foreign Legion), Navy (Marine Nationale), Air and Space Force (l’Armee de l’Air et de l’Espace); includes Air Defense), National Guard (Garde Nationale), National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie Nationale) (2025); note 1: under the direction of the Ministry of the Interior, the civilian National Police and the National Gendarmerie maintain internal security; the National Gendarmerie is a paramilitary police force that is a branch of the Armed Forces and therefore part of the Ministry of Defense but under the jurisdiction…

Personnel

approximately 200,000 active duty Armed Forces; approximately 150,000 National Gendarmerie; approximately 80,000 National Guard (2025)

Service age

generally 17-30 years of age for both men and women with some variations by service, position, and enlisted versus officer; 17-40 for National Gendarmerie; basic service contract is for 12 months; no conscription (abolished 2001) (2025); note 1: a 10-month voluntary military service program for French citizens 18-19 is scheduled to start accepting recruits in September 2026; afterwards, the volunteers can integrate into civilian life, become a reservist, or stay in the armed forces; note 2: in 2024, women comprised about 17% of the uniformed armed forces; note 3: men between the ages of 17.5 a…

Expenditures

2.1% of GDP (2025 est.); 2% of GDP (2024 est.); 1.9% of GDP (2023 est.); 1.9% of GDP (2022 est.); 1.9% of GDP (2021 est.)

Deployments

France typically has up to 30,000 total air, ground, and naval forces deployed on permanent or temporary foreign missions; up to 10,000 are permanently deployed, including Djibouti (1,500); French Guyana (2,600); French Polynesia (1,000); French West Indies (1,000); Reunion Island (2,100); UAE (800); other non-permanent deployments include military missions under NATO, the EU, and the UN, as well as some unilateral operations, in such places as Europe, Africa, and the Middle East and adjacent waters (2025)

Hierarchy#

Order of battle from the constitutional commander down to the service branches. Refine the boxes and edges to match the current chain of command.

        flowchart TD
  CinC["Commander-in-Chief"]
  MoD["Minister of Defense"]
  CoD["Chief of Defense"]
  Army["Army"]
  Navy["Navy"]
  Air["Air Force"]
  Spec["Special / Strategic"]
  Para["Paramilitary / Gendarmerie"]

  CinC --> MoD
  MoD --> CoD
  CoD --> Army
  CoD --> Navy
  CoD --> Air
  CoD --> Spec
  MoD -.- Para

Industry#

Defense-industrial base. Domestic primes, state arsenals, and joint ventures producing weapons, ammunition, platforms, or sensitive electronics. Operators map these to track procurement, export controls, sanctions exposure, and supply-chain access. Cross-reference SIPRI Arms Industry Database, Jane’s, and the country’s procurement gazette.

Company

Site

Ownership

Products

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Frequencies#

Military and government radio frequency allocations the operator collects, monitors, or jams. Bands listed by service and primary use. Cross-reference national radio regulator publications, ITU Radio Regulations, Radio Reference, UDXF, and SIGIDWIKI before relying on the entry. Many bands are protected; check OPSEC and legal posture before listening or transmitting.

Service

Band

Frequency

Use

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Radios#

Tactical and strategic radio sets fielded by the country’s military, intelligence, police, and emergency services. Operators use this to predict modulation, waveform, encryption, and interoperability. Cross-reference Jane’s C4ISR, SIPRI trade register, and vendor catalogues for fielded inventory.

Model

Manufacturer

Band

User

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Weapons#

Fielded weapon systems across the armed forces, organised by domain. Operators use this to plan threat avoidance, signature collection, and procurement-supply analysis. Cross-reference SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, IISS Military Balance, Oryx, Jane’s, and the country’s own white papers.

Domain

System

Origin

Quantity

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Small arms#

Small arms in military, police, and civilian hands. Operators use this to identify weapons on contact, predict the grey-market flow, and scope force-on-force engagements. Cross-reference Small Arms Survey, ATT-Monitor, ARES research notes, and the country’s firearms-registry gazette.

Class

Model

Caliber

Origin

User

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Suppliers#

Foreign weapon suppliers feeding the armed forces, security services, and irregulars in the country. Operators map these to predict resupply, attribute battlefield wreckage, gauge diplomatic dependencies, and identify the procurement officers worth working. Cross-reference SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, UN Register of Conventional Arms, Trade Data Monitor, and country-of-origin export control gazettes.

Supplier

Origin

Items

Period

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