French Air and Space Force

Air and space warfare branch of France's armed forces

Follow French Air and Space Force on Notably News to receive short updates to your email — rarely!

2025 Planned entry of Rafale F4 standard into operational service.
2025 Initial deliveries of Falcon 2000 Albatros Maritime Surveillance and Intervention Aircraft begin.
2025 Continued delivery of EDA-S amphibious vessels is planned, with four additional units intended for the Toulon naval base.
2024 Commencement of the new Military Planning Law (LPM) for 2024-2030, focusing on four strategic priorities: strengthening deterrence assets, preparing for high-intensity warfare, protecting national interests, and enhancing international partnerships.
2024 Planned completion of Atlantique 2 aircraft upgrades for the entire fleet.
2024 Ongoing modernization of first-rank surface combatant fleet, offshore patrol vessels, and logistic support fleets begins under the new Military Planning Law.
2024 Decision made to delay the start of construction of BDGM vessels by one year, pushing the construction start to 2025.
2024 FDI-class frigate Amiral Ronarc'h began sea trials.
2024 Late 2024 reports suggested the first Patrouilleur Hauturier ship would likely enter service in 2027.
2024 Initiation of major naval modernization programs, including replacement of ballistic missile submarines, nuclear attack submarines, and nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
June 2024 Third Barracuda-class submarine began sea trials.
May 2024 A second Patrouilleur Outre-mer vessel arrived in Tahiti.
March 2024 Steel cut on the first SNLE 3G ballistic missile submarine.
2023 Second Barracuda-class submarine delivered.
2023 Initial operational capability for SLAM-F unmanned systems planned to be achieved, starting with shore-based elements.
2023 Minister of Armed Forces expressed support for feasibility studies on developing light force projection ships.
2023 Preliminary design work completed on 220 MW K22 nuclear reactors to power the new aircraft carrier.
2023 Parliamentary review of the 2024-30 LPM initiated amendments for light amphibious ships to restore troop and cargo transport capabilities in overseas territories.
December 2023 Construction of the third Jacques Chevallier-class vessel began.
November 2023 First seven Patrouilleurs Hauturiers (PH) vessels were ordered.
October 15 2023 The lead ship of the Patrouilleur Outre-mer class, Auguste Benebig, was launched at the Socarenam shipyard in Saint Malo.
July 2023 Syracuse 4B telecommunication satellite launched.
July 2023 The Jacques Chevallier was delivered to the French Navy.
June 2023 Successfully tested the Helma-P laser weapon system on the Horizon-class Forbin destroyer
June 28 2023 Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu discussed an additional €500 million needed for two more PH vessels during a Senate hearing.
April 2023 Auguste Benebig arrived at her home base in New Caledonia.
April 4 2023 The 2024-2030 Military Programming Law (LPM) was unveiled, revealing revised plans for patrol vessel acquisitions, including only 7 Patrouilleurs Hauturiers (PH) to be in service by 2030.
March 2023 CSO-3 satellite launched, completing the current Earth observation satellite constellation.
March 2023 The last six student fighter pilots received their badges on Alpha Jet, marking the end of the advanced jet training program with this aircraft.
March 22 2023 Transformed the Territorial Command of the Air and Space Army (CTAAE), formerly the Air Forces Command, on March 22, 2023.
2022 At Euronaval 2022, a partnership agreement was signed between the Belgian, Dutch, and French navies to enhance cooperation in mine warfare vessel development.
December 2022 French Navy begins delivery of the latest Exocet Block 3c anti-ship missile variant
December 2022 Sixth upgraded Atlantique 2 aircraft delivered to the French Navy.
December 2022 Sea trials for the Jacques Chevallier commenced.
December 22 2022 DGA awards Airbus Defence and Space and Dassault Aviation €10.9 million each for architecture studies on future maritime patrol aircraft, examining A320neo and Falcon 10X platforms.
November 2022 Upgraded Atlantique 2 aircraft reaches milestone of performing full spectrum of assigned missions.
November 2022 FDI-class frigate Amiral Ronarc'h launched.
November 2022 First Ophrys-class diving support vessel (VSP) was delivered, part of the planned 8 vessels to support mine warfare capabilities.
July 2022 Arbalète and Arquebuse entered operational service with the French Navy.
July 2022 Auguste Benebig began sea trials.
May 2022 Withdrew the last two Transall C-160 Gabriel reconnaissance aircraft from service.
May 2022 French Navy begins leasing 6 commercial H160 helicopters for search and rescue missions, to be operated for 10 years.
April 2022 The Jacques Chevallier was launched.
February 2022 Construction of the second ship of the class, Jacques Stosskopf, began.
2021 Formed the Air Force Firefighters Brigade (Brigade des pompiers de l'air), bringing together rescue and firefighting personnel into 25 units of around 1,500 personnel.
2021 Atlantique 2 aircraft upgrades reach full operating capability with the fifth upgraded aircraft delivered.
December 17 2021 FDI-class frigate Amiral Ronarc'h formally laid down.
November 2021 All 3 CERES electromagnetic intelligence satellites launched.
November 2021 First unmanned Mine Warfare Prototype of the SLAM-F system was delivered, marking a significant milestone in the French Navy's mine warfare vessel modernization program.
November 2021 First two EDA-S amphibious vessels (Arbalète and Arquebuse) were delivered to the French Navy.

We are only showing the most recent entries for this topic.

This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Future of the French Navy & French Air and Space Force, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

See Also