| Ministry of Armed Forces | |
| Native Name: | French: Ministère des Armées |
| Type: | Ministry |
| Formed: | [1] |
| Preceding1: | Ministry of War |
| Preceding2: | Ministry of the Navy |
| Preceding3: | Ministry of the Air |
| Superseding6: | --> |
| Jurisdiction: | Government of France |
| Headquarters: | Hôtel de Brienne Paris 7e, French Republic - Hexagone Balard Paris 15e, French Republic |
| Coordinates: | 48.8597°N 2.3194°W 48.8356°N 2.2761°W |
| Budget: | €54.494 billion[2] |
| Minister1 Name: | Sébastien Lecornu |
| Minister2 Name: | Minister of the Armed Forces |
| Minister8 Name: | --> |
| Deputyminister8 Name: | --> |
| Chief1 Name: | Thierry Burkhard |
| Chief1 Position: | Chief of the Defence Staff |
| Chief9 Name: | --> |
| Child25 Agency: | --> |
| Keydocument6: | --> |
The Ministry of Armed Forces (French: Ministère des Armées,) 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.
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.[3]
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.[4] French Army General François Lecointre took over as Chief of Staff of the Armies on 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]
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.
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.[7]
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.
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.[8]