13 Facts About French Air Force

Chief of Staff of the French Air and Space Force is a direct subordinate of the Chief of the Defence Staff, a high-ranking military officer who in turn answers to the civilian Minister of the Armed Forces.

In March 1912, the French parliament enacted legislation to establish the air arm.

French Air Force maintained a continuous presence across the French colonial empire, particularly from the 1920s to 1943.

French Air Force played an important role in WWII, most notably during the Battle of France in 1940.

The Vichy French Air Force had later a significant presence in the French Levant.

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The French Air Force participated in several colonial wars during the Empire such as French Indochina after the Second World War.

French Air Force was active in Algeria from 1952 until 1962 and Suez, later Mauritania and Chad, the Persian Gulf, ex-Yugoslavia and more recently in Afghanistan, Mali and Iraq.

From 1964 until 1971 the French Air Force had the unique responsibility for the French nuclear arm via Dassault Mirage IV or ballistic missiles of Air Base 200 Apt-Saint-Christol on the Plateau d'Albion.

In 1964, the Second Tactical French Air Force Command was created in Nancy to take command of air units stationed in France but not assigned to NATO.

In 1985, the Air Force had four major flying commands, the Strategic Air Forces Command, the Tactical Air Forces Command, the Military Air Transport Command, and CAFDA .

French Air Force entered a phase of inventory replacement and expansion.

The Air Force ordered the Airbus A400M military transport aircraft, then in development.

Air and Space Force headquarters, employing 150 personnel, are located alongside the Chief of the Defence Staff's offices and the Army and Navy headquarters at the Balard armed forces complex in Paris.