French Army
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The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre (English: Land Army), is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces and its largest. As of 2008, the army employs 133,947 regular soldiers and 24 000+ civilans[1]. All soldiers are now considered professionals, following the suspension of conscription in 1996.
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Organisation
The army is divided into different Corps or armes. These units retain both symbolic and non symbolic and administrative values.
- Troupes de Marine composed of:
- Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère)
- Armoured Cavalry (Arme Blindée cavalerie)
- Artillery;
- Army Light Aviation (Aviation Légère de l'Armée de Terre - ALAT), including combat helicopters;
- Military engineers (Génie Militaire);
- Infantry,
- including specialist mountain infantry (Chasseurs Alpins)
- Maintenance (Matériel)
- Logistics (Train)
- Signals (Transmissions)
- Commissary
The operational organisation of the Army combines units from various Corps in 17 Brigades.
Statistics
| French Armée de Terre statistics | |
| Personnel (Regular Army) | 134,000 |
| Personnel (Reserve Forces) | 15,800 |
| Main Battle Tanks | 354 Leclercs (as of 2008), 17 AMX-30B2s |
| Light Tanks | 192 ERC-90s, 300 AMX-10RCs |
| Reconnaissance vehicles | 1100 VBLs, |
| Infantry Fighting vehicles | 601 AMX-10Ps. To be replaced by the VBCI (550 combat version and 150 command version) |
| Armoured Personnel Carriers | 3,800 VABs |
| Artillery pieces and mortar | 105 TRF1s, 72 Caesar systems (currently being delivered), 134 AMX 30 AuF1s , 48 MLRSs, MO-120-RT-61 |
| Aircraft | 5 Pilatus PC-6 Porter, 12 Socata TBM700[2] |
| Helicopters | 80 Eurocopter Tigers (12 already delivered), 8 EC-725s, 18 AS-555s, 27 AS-532, 230 Gazelles, 90 SA-330s[2] |
| Mine detection | 5 Chubby (mine detection system) |
| Motorcycles | Cagiva 350 T4 |
Photo Gallery
 French soldiers with SPECTRA helmet of the IFOR in Mostar, 1995. An AMX 30 AuF1 self-propelled gun can be seen in the background. |
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 Artillery vehicle AMX 30 AuF1 |
Principles and values
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The principles and values of the French Army are formulated in the Code of the French Soldier:
| “ | (...) Mastering his own strength, he respects his opponent and is careful to spare civilians. He obeys orders while respecting laws, customs of war and international conventions.(...) He is aware of global societies and respects their differences. (...) [3] | ” |
See also
References
- ^ http://fr.encarta.msn.com/media_102615104/Arm%C3%A9e_fran%C3%A7aise_structure_et_effectifs.html
- ^ a b French military aviation OrBat
- ^ Original French : (...) Maître de sa force, il respecte l’adversaire et veille à épargner les populations. Il obéit aux ordres, dans le respect des lois, des coutumes de la guerre et des conventions internationales. (...) Il est ouvert sur le monde et la société, et en respecte les différences. (...) : [1]
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Military equipment of France |
- (French) Official website
- French Military Reform: Lessons for America's Army?, George A. Bloch (includes explanations of the structure of command)
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