French Air Force

French Air Force Armée de l'Air
Lineup	July 2, 1934
Country	France
Armed forces	French armed forces
Armed forces	Air Force
Type	Armed forces
structure	See organizational structure
Strength	40,800 (2020)
management
Chief of Staff of the Air Force	Général d'armée Aérienne Philippe Lavigne
insignia
Aircraft cockade

The French Air Force ( French Armée de l'Air ) is one of the five branches of the French military . With over 40,000 members, the French Air Force is the second largest military force in France.

history

The Armée de l'Air is one of the oldest air forces in the world. Its beginnings go back to 1909, formally to 1912, when the newly created Aéronautique Militaire was incorporated into the armed forces. It had 132 planes at the beginning of the First World War. At the armistice in 1918, the Aéronautique Militaire was the strongest air force on the Western Front with 90,000 men, 350 squadrons and 3,222 aircraft. It had destroyed 2,049 enemy planes and 357 tethered balloons. It lost 3,500 pilots, 3,000 were missing or wounded. 2,000 soldiers were killed in accidents.

With the law of July 2, 1934, the Aéronautique Militaire became an independent armed forces under the name Armée de l'air .

In May 1940, when the Wehrmacht began the western campaign , they had over 5000 aircraft, including 2400 fighters, 1160 bombers and 1464 reconnaissance aircraft. On May 10, 1940, only about a quarter of the Armée de l'air's available resources were deployed at the front. The coordination of the warfare between her and the fighting ground troops was completely inadequate. The Armée de l'air played no role in decisive battles (e.g. crossing the Meuse at Sedan ).

When a Franco-German control commission found 4,268 operational aircraft in unoccupied France after the Compiègne armistice (there were another 1,800 aircraft in North Africa), the question arose as to why so few of them had been used. Apparently the Armée de l'air had prepared itself for a longer duration of the war and only made a partial mobilization (more details and sources in the article Western Campaign # Armée de l'air ).

organization

The French Air Force divide their forces into three major commands:

Commands

Air Force Task Force:

• Air Defense and Air Operations Command ( Commandement de la Défense Aérienne et des Opérations Aériennes ( CDAOA )) ( Paris ) - Forces from the Air Force Command are operationally subordinate to him.
• Strategic Air Force Command ( Commandement des Forces Aériennes Stratégiques ( CFAS )) ( Base Aérienne 107 Vélizy-Villacoublay ) - responsible for the nuclear-bomber and aerial refueling units .

Air Force Command:

• Air Force Command ( Commandement des Forces Aériennes ( CFA )) (Base Aérienne 106 Bordeaux-Mérignac) - responsible for the operational training, maintenance and readiness of air force units.
  • Air Force Fighter Aviation Brigade ( Brigade aérienne de l'aviation de chasse ( BAAC )) - contains the fighters, the tactical fighter-bombers and the unmanned aerial vehicles (both the armed and the reconnaissance drones)
  • ( Brigade aérienne d'appui et de projection ( BAAP )) - contains the planes and helicopters for tactical air transport; Government flights and for special operations (including air search and combat rescue, counter-terrorism and support for military and DGSE special units )
  • Air Force Brigade for Airspace Control ( Brigade aérienne de contrôle de l'espace ( BACE )) - contains the Boeing E-3 air surveillance squadron and the four surface-to-air squadrons (air defense guided missile divisions each with two SAMP / T batteries and one Crotale battery). The ground-based air surveillance radar systems are integrated in the four centers for air target location and control ( Center de détection et de contrôle ( CDC )) of the air defense and air operations command.
  • Air force brigade for air maneuver support ( Brigade aérienne d'appui à la manœuvre aérienne ( BAAMA )) - contains the air force telecommunication and information troops , the infrastructural squadrons of the air bases and the 25th air force pioneer regiment ( 25e regiment du genie de l'air , operationally an army unit, operationally an army unit of the Army de l'Air).
  • Air force brigade of security and intervention forces ( Brigade aérienne des forces de sécurité et d'intervention ( BAFSI )) - contains the air force special forces ( commandos parachutistes de l'air , 3 units: the elite Commando parachutistes de l'air N ° 10 ( CPA. 10 ), which is integrated in the Commandement des opérations spéciales , the Commando parachutistes de l'air N ° 20 ( CPA.20 ), which mainly operate as Forward Air Controllers , and the Commando parachutistes de l'air N ° 30 ( CPA.30 ), which mainly operate in the combat search and rescue role) and the air force security squadrons / detachments ( Escadron de Protection ( EP ) / Détachement de Protection ( DP ), 34 units including security personnel, explosives pioneers, watchdog and explosives detection dog handlers ), as well a training squadron ( Escadron de formation des commandos de l'air ( EFCA )).
  • Air force brigade for weapons and logistics systems ( Brigade aérienne des systèmes d'armes et de la logistique ( BASAL ))

Cross-armed forces command:

• Inter-armed forces space command ( Commandement interarmées de l'espace ( CIE )) (Base Aérienne 117 Paris ) - responsible for the French military satellites. Operates for the French Armed Forces and National Security Authorities. The commander and most of the members of the commando come from the AdlA.

All the listed commands and units are subordinate to the Chef d'état-major de l'Armée de l'air (CEMAA, in Germany the inspector of the Air Force ) and his staff in Paris.

Task forces

The flying units at the bases (see below) consist of three organizational levels, similar to those of other air forces such as the German Air Force or the United States Air Force.

• Escadre :

Squadrons, they subordinate the airborne units and those supporting them. This level was abolished in the early 1990s and reintroduced in 2014.

• Groupe , Regiment and Escadron :

Different terms for the organizational level between squadron and squadron or the operational organization on a basis. In the case of the flying formations, they are only responsible for the respective two to three flying squadrons, the support areas are not subordinate to them. The most common name is the escadron . The other two do not exist today, groupes existed especially before the international harmonization following the establishment of NATO in 1949.

• Escadrille :

Staffel, the lowest permanent organizational unit.

staff

The French Air Force has 65,000 men and women (18%) (as of 2005)

• 10% officers
• 55% NCOs
• 25% militaires techniciens de l'air (MTA, German technical personnel of the air force)
• 1% voluntary military service and officer candidates
• 9% civilian employees

The following areas of application are covered in the air force:

• Flying staff
  • Fighter pilots
  • Pilots for transport and liaison aircraft
  • Helicopter pilots
  • Weapons system officers and navigators
  • Support teams

• Not flying personnel
  • Maintenance personnel for the aircraft
  • Air traffic controllers
  • Administrative staff
  • Air Force Infantry
  • Computer science
  • Infrastructure
  • intelligence
  • Examination Commissioners (Administration)

bases

BA117 Paris

The air force bases do not necessarily house combat or transport aircraft. The radar stations , e.g. B. Lyon Mont-Verdun, Drachenbrunn, Cinq-mars-la-pile, Nice Mont-Angel are used for air surveillance and the management of military air traffic. Other locations serve as material stores or as command posts. Abroad and overseas, the equipment of aircraft and ground services is adapted to the respective operations: transport aircraft in Dushanbe ( Tajikistan , Operation "Herakles"), fighter aircraft in N'Djamena ( Chad , Operation "Epervier" [Sparrowhawk]).

List of bases

The bases are numbered, the larger bases having the prefix BA (Base aérienne) and the smaller bases the prefix DA (Détachement air).

In the mother country are or were: BA101 Toulouse-Francazal (closed) BA102 Dijon-Longvic (closed) BA103 Cambrai-Épinoy (closed) BA104 Dugny-Le Bourget (closed) BA105 Évreux-Fauville (C-160G / R, AS532 / EC725, CN235-200 / 300) BA106 Bordeaux-Mérignac (TBM.700, AS555) BA107 Vélizy-Villacoublay (AS322, AS555, TBM.700, A319ACJ, Falcon 50, Falcon 900) BA110 Creil (flight operations ceased at the end of August 2016) BA112 Reims-Champagne (closed) BA113 St Dizier-Robinson ( Rafale ) BA115 Orange-Caritat (Mirage 2000B / C RDI) BA116 Luxeuil-St Sauveur (Mirage 2000-5F) BA117 Paris BA118 Mont-de-Marsan ( Rafale C ) BA119 Pau (closed) BA120 Cazaux (SA330, EC725, Alpha Jet) BA122 Chartres-Champhol (closed) BA123 Orléans-Bricy (C-160R, C-130H, C-130H-30, A400M) BA124 Strasbourg-Entzheim (closed) BA125 Istres-Le Tubé (C-135FR, A330MRTT, AS555) BA126 Solenzara (SA330, SA332, SA532) BA128 Metz-Frescaty (closed) BA129 Saint Jean d'Angély-Fontenet (closed) BA132 Colmar-Meyenheim (closed) BA133 Nancy-Ochey (Mirage 2000D) BA136 Toul-Rosières (closed) DA204 Bordeaux -Beauséjour BA217 Brétigny-sur-Orge (closed) BA218 Persan Beaumont (closed)

DA273 Romorantin-Pruniers (no longer regular flight operations) DA277 Varennes sur Allier (closed) BA278 Ambérieu-en-Bugey EAR279 Châteaudun (no longer regular flight operations) BA701 Salon-de-Provence (Alpha Jet, various trainer aircraft such as TBM.700) BA702 Avord (E-3, EMB-121) BA705 Tours (Alpha Jet, until early 2020) BA709 Cognac-Châteaubernard (various trainer aircraft) BA721 Rochefort-St Agnant BA722 Saintes -Thénac (technical school) BA745 Aulnat (closed) BA749 Grenoble BA901 Drachenbronn BA921 Taverny , closed in 2011 BA942 Lyon-Mont Verdun BA943 Nice-Mont Agel, closed in 2012 Roissy-Charles de Gaulle (Airbus A310, A340) Overseas there are: BA102 Sévaré , Mali (various) BA104 Al Dhafra , United Arab Emirates (Rafale) BA160 Dakar-Yoff , Senegal (AS555) DA181 Saint-Denis , Réunion (CN235-300, AS555) BA186 Noumea Tontouta , New Caledonia (CN235-200, SA330, AS555) BA188 Djibouti-Ambouli (Mirage 2000-5F, C-160, SA330, AS555) DA190 Tahiti-Faaa , French Polynesia (CN235-200, AS332) BA365 Le Lamentin , Martinique (closed in 2012) BA367 Cayenne-Rochambeau , French Guiana (CN235-200, SA330, AS555)

equipment

Aerobatic team Patrouille de France of the French Air Force

The Armeé de l'Air will reduce the number of its aircraft to 700 by 2015. This will include 300 combat aircraft, 100 transport aircraft, 80 helicopters and 200 training aircraft. Linked to this is a regeneration of the aircraft fleet, including the introduction of the Rafale and A400M. There will also be a number of unmanned systems for reconnaissance and the use of weapons (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle / Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle).

Aircraft

Aircraft of the Armée de l'air include the Dassault Rafale , which is currently being used as a replacement for the Jaguar , Mirage F1 and some Mirage 2000 aircraft . The Jaguar and the Mirage F1 are already retired. The Mirage 2000 will be reduced and a successor aircraft is to be built for their complete retirement. A UAV with extensive air-to-ground capabilities is likely to be the successor .

Rafale bombers are planned for a possible use of nuclear weapons .

plane	photo	origin	role	version	number	comment
Warplanes
Dassault Rafale		France	Multipurpose fighter	C. B.	50 52
Dassault Mirage 2000 C / B / 5 F		France	Fighter plane	5F C. B.	22nd 12 6th	Mirage 2000C, will be replaced by Dassault Rafale by 2020 .
Dassault Mirage 2000 D		France	Fighter bomber	D.	61
EKF & early warning aircraft
Boeing E-3 Sentry		United States	AEW & C	F.	4th
Transall C-160 Gabriel		France	Signals intelligence	G	2	ELINT
Tankers and vans
Boeing KC-135		United States	Tanker	FR	14th	Will be replaced by Airbus A330 MRTT .
Airbus A400M		European Union	transport		17th	50 ordered
Transall C-160		France / Germany	medium tactical transporter	R.	31	Will be replaced by Airbus A400M .
Lockheed C-130 Hercules		United States	medium tactical transporter	C-130H C-130H-30 C-130J-30 KC-130J	7th 7th 2 2	the H version is to be replaced by the Airbus A400M , the two C / KC-130Js were ordered due to delays with the A400M.
CASA CN-235		Spain	light tactical transporter	200 300	18th 9
Passenger planes and multi-purpose vans
Airbus A340		France	Strategic freight and passenger transportation	200	2	Will be replaced by Airbus A330 MRTT .
Airbus A310		France	Strategic freight and passenger transportation	300	3	Will be replaced by Airbus A330 MRTT .
Airbus A330		France	Passenger Airplane (VIP)	223	1	President's plane
Dassault Falcon 7X		France	Passenger Airplane (VIP)		2
Falcon 2000		France	Passenger Airplane (VIP)	LX	2
Dassault Falcon 900		France	Passenger Airplane (VIP)		2
Socata TBM 700		France	Liaison aircraft	A.	15th
DHC-6 Twin Otter		Canada	Liaison aircraft	300	5
Training aircraft
Alpha Jet		France	Advanced trainer	E.	67
Embraer EMB 121 Xingu		Brazil	Trainer aircraft	AA ON	23
Jodel D-140		France	Trainer aircraft	R.	17th
Pilatus PC-21		Switzerland	Trainer aircraft		17th
Socata TB 30		France	Trainer aircraft		33
Diamond HK36		Austria	Trainer aircraft		5
Aerobatic machines
Alpha Jet		France	Aerobatics		12	Patrouille de France
Walter Extra 300		Germany	Aerobatics	LP / SC	3
helicopter
Eurocopter EC725 Caracal		France	Search and Rescue	RESCO	10
Eurocopter AS532 Cougar		France	Search and Rescue	(AS 332 M1 - AS 532 UL)	10
Aérospatiale SA330 Puma		France	Transport helicopter	BA	20th
Eurocopter AS555 Fennec		France	Multipurpose helicopter	ON U.N.	40
UAVs
EADS Harfang		Israel France	enlightenment		4th
General Atomics MQ-9		United States	enlightenment		3	12 ordered.

Incidents

• On March 8, 1968 ( GMT ), a Douglas DC-6 B of the Armée de l'air ( registration number 43748 ) flew into a hill shortly after its night take-off from Réunion airport , killing 16 of the 17 occupants. After take- off, the pilots did not turn towards the sea as prescribed in the departure procedure, but flew straight ahead.
• On January 9, 2019, a Mirage 2000 D launched from the Nancy-Ochey military airfield crashed near Mignovillard near the Swiss border . The pilot and the navigator died.

Web links

Commons : French Air Force  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website
• European UCAV project ( Memento of October 24, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
• List of equipment of the French Air Force (out of date)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Loi n ° 1934-07-02 du juillet 1934 2 fixant l'organization générale de l'armée de l'air
2. ↑ See also the French article L'action de l'armée de l'air en 1939–1940: facteurs structurels et conjoncturels d'une défaite , Guerres mondiales et conflits contemporains 2/2001 (n ° 202-203), ISBN 978 -2-13-052721-3 , pp. 7-31. doi: 10.3917 / gmcc.202.0007
3. ^ French Ministry of Defense: Les forces aeriennes , accessed October 22, 2017.
4. ↑ an overview of other former bases is linked on the relevant page of the French-language Wikipedia.
5. ↑ Thomas Borchert: Touch & Go Colmar - Visiting the Middle Ages ( Memento of the original from April 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Fliegermagazin. No. 3, March 2010, accessed December 17, 2011.  
6. ^ Fermeture du détachement air de Varennes-sur-Allier, French Ministry of Defense, July 3, 2015
7. ↑ La Réunion: arrivée du 1er CASA CN 235-300, French Ministry of Defense, June 8, 2015
8. ↑ "Chiffres clés de la Défense 2014" (PDF) August 28, 2014 (French)
9. ^ "Lancement du nouveau standard du program Rafale" January 10, 2014 (French)
10. ↑ AIRBUS A400M PRODUCTION LIST. In: www.abcdlist.nl. April 28, 2020, accessed on April 29, 2020 . 
11. ↑ Emmanuel Huberdeau: French Air Force adds mid-air helicopter refueling capability with new KC-130Js. In: Jane's Information Group . July 9, 2020, accessed on July 12, 2020 . 
12. ↑ Marina Malenic: French Air Force gets third Reaper UAV . IHS Jane's Defense Weekly. Archived from the original on June 2, 2015. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 2, 2015. 
13. ↑ accident report DC-6B Fraf 43748 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on May 15, 2017th
14. ↑ www.20min.ch: Both pilots of the fighter jet found dead