French Army

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The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre (Land Army), is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces and its largest. As of 2007, the army employs 134,000 regular soldiers, 15,500 reservists, and 25,750 civilians. All soldiers are now considered professionals, following the suspension of conscription in 1996.

Organisation

The army is divided into different Corps or armes. These Corps retain both symbolic and administrative values.

The operational organisation of the Army combines units from various Corps in 17 Brigades.

Statistics

French Armée de Terre statistics
Personnel (Regular Army) 134,000
Personnel (Reserve Forces) 15,500
Main Battle Tanks 407 Leclercs (as of 2007), 614 AMX-30B2s
Reconnaissance vehicles 1280 VBLs, 192 ERC-90s, 337 AMX-10RCs
Infantry Fighting vehicles 601 AMX-10Ps. To be replaced by the VBCI (550 combat version and 150 command version)
Armoured Personnel Carriers 3,975 VABs
Artillery pieces and mortar 105 TRF1s, 72 Caesar systems (currently being delivered), 134 AMX 30 AuF1s , 48 MLRSs
Aircraft 5 Pilatus PC-6 Porter, 12 Socata TBM700
Helicopters 80 Eurocopter Tigers (12 already delivered), 8 EC-725s, 18 AS-555s, 27 AS-532, 230 Gazelles, 90 SA-330s
mine detection 5 Chubby (mine detection system)

Principles and values

The principles and values of the French Army are formulated in the Code of the French Soldier:

(...) Mastering his own strength, he respects his opponent and is careful to spare civilians. He obeys orders while respecting laws, customs of war and international conventions.(...) He is aware of global societies and respects their differences. (...)

See also

References

External links



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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 15:26:05 PDT (GMT -0700)
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