French Armed Forces
| French Armed Forces | |
|---|---|
| Forces armées françaises | |
Emblem of the French Defence Staff | |
| Founded | 26 May 1445 (580 years, 116 days) |
| Service branches |
|
| Headquarters | Hexagone Balard, Paris |
| Leadership | |
| Chief of the Armed Forces | President Emmanuel Macron |
| Minister of the Armed Forces | Sébastien Lecornu |
| Chief of the Defence Staff | Général d'armée aérienne Fabien Mandon[1] |
| Personnel | |
| Military age | 17.5 |
| Conscription | None |
| Active personnel | 199,618 (2025)[2] |
| Reserve personnel | 43,444 (2025)[2] |
| Expenditure | |
| Budget | €61.8 billion ($63.7 billion) (2025, including pensions) €50.5 billion ($52.1 billion) (2025, excluding pensions)[3] |
| Percent of GDP | 2.06% (2024)[4] |
| Industry | |
| Domestic suppliers |
|
| Foreign suppliers | United States United Kingdom Brazil Switzerland Germany Netherlands Italy Norway Canada Belgium Austria |
| Annual imports | US$84 million (2014–2022)[5] |
| Annual exports | US$2.60 billion (2014–2022)[5] |
| Related articles | |
| History | Military history of France Warfare directory of France Wars involving France Battles involving France |
| Ranks | Army ranks Navy ranks Air and Space Force ranks |
The French Armed Forces (French: Forces armées françaises, pronounced [fɔʁs aʁme fʁɑ̃sɛːz]) are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force, and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander-in-chief of the French military. France has the ninth largest defense budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU.[6] As of 2021, the total active personnel of the French Armed Forces is 270,000. While the reserve personnel is 63,700 (including the National Gendarmerie), for a total of 333,000 personnel (excluding the active personnel of the National Gendarmerie). Including the active personnel of the National Gendarmerie, the total manpower of all the French Armed Forces combined is 435,000 strong.[7] A 2015 Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military.[8]
- ^ "Fabien Mandon, nouveau chef d'état-major des armées : Ces défis brûlants qui l'attendent". 1 September 2025. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
- ^ a b "Defence Key Figures 2025 (English version)" (PDF).
- ^ "PROJET DE LOI DE FINANCES" (PDF) (in French). Ministere Armees. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
- ^ "Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries (2014-2024)" (PDF). nato.int. 2024-06-17. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
- ^ a b "TIV of arms imports/exports data for France, 2014–2022". Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. 30 January 2024.
- ^ "Military expenditure by country, in constant (2015) US$ m., 2007–2016 (table)" (PDF). Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
- ^ "Quel avenir pour la gendarmerie ?". 3 April 2023.
- ^ O’Sullivan, Michael; Subramanian, Krithika (2015-10-17). The End of Globalization or a more Multipolar World? (Report). Credit Suisse AG. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 2017-07-14.