Major General of the Defence Staff (France)

The Major General of the Defence Staff (French: Major Général des Armées, lit. 'Major General of the Armies', acronym: M.G.A.) is a high ranking general officer of the French Armed Forces and the deputy to the Chief of the Defence Staff. As such, it is the second highest position in the armed forces. Major Generals are nominated by the Minister of the Armed Forces and appointed by the Commander-in-Chief, the President of the French Republic. The designation of Major General is not indicative of any rank but is rather a position, as the most recent office holders were all five stars generals (OF-9).

Major General of the Defence Staff Major Général des Armées (fr)
Insignia of the Armed Forces Staff
Incumbent Amiral Jean Casabianca since 1 September 2018
Ministry of the Armed Forces
Style	Monsieur le Major Général des Armées
Type	Part of a military staff
Abbreviation	M.G.A.
Member of	Chiefs of Staff Committee
Reports to	Chief of the Defence Staff
Seat	Hexagone Balard, Paris
Appointer	President of the Republic Requires the Prime Minister's countersignature
Term length	No fixed term
Formation	28 April 1948[1]
First holder	Henri Zeller
Website	www.defense.gouv.fr

Duties

The major general leads the Defence Staff and is assisted by three general officers: the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations (OPS), the Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning (PLANS) and the Deputy Chief of Staff for Performance (PERF).

Holders

No.	Portrait	Rank & Name	Term			Branch	Minister	Commander-in-Chief	Ref.[lower-alpha 1]
			Took office	Left office	Duration
Office established
1		Général de division Henri Zeller	29 April 1948			Army			[2] -
-		Général d'armée André Demetz	1958
-		Général de corps aérien Michel Délaval	1 May 1977	26 August 1979	2 years, 117 days	Air Force		Valéry Giscard d'Estaing	[3] -
-		Général de corps aérien Jean-Paul Arbelet	26 August 1979	1 October 1983	4 years, 36 days	Air Force		Valéry Giscard d'Estaing François Mitterrand	[4] -
-		Vice-amiral d'escadre Jean-André Brusson	1 October 1983	10 March 1985	1 year, 160 days	Navy		François Mitterrand	[5] -
-		Vice-amiral d'escadre Bernard Louzeau	10 March 1985	30 January 1987	1 year, 326 days	Navy		François Mitterrand	[6] -
-		Vice-amiral d'escadre Alain Coatanea	30 January 1987	20 November 1990	3 years, 294 days	Navy	André Giraud Jean-Pierre Chevènement	François Mitterrand	[7] -
-		Général de division Mary-Jean Voinot	20 November 1990	1 October 1992	1 year, 316 days	Army	Jean-Pierre Chevènement Pierre Joxe	François Mitterrand	[8] -
-		Général de corps aérien Jean-Philippe Douin	1 October 1992	15 June 1994	1 year, 257 days	Air Force	Pierre Joxe François Léotard	François Mitterrand	[9] -
-		Général de corps aérien Jean Rannou	15 June 1994	1 September 1995	1 year, 78 days	Air Force	François Léotard Charles Millon	François Mitterrand Jacques Chirac	[10] -
-		Général de corps d'armée Philippe Mercier	1 September 1995	28 August 1996	362 days	Army	Charles Millon	Jacques Chirac	[11] -
-		Général de corps aérien Jean-Pierre Kelche	28 August 1996	9 April 1998	1 year, 224 days	Air Force	Charles Millon Alain Richard	Jacques Chirac	[12] -
-		Général de corps aérien Jean-Pierre Job	9 April 1998	1 September 1999	1 year, 145 days	Air Force	Alain Richard	Jacques Chirac	[13] -
-		Général de corps aérien Richard Wolsztynski	1 September 1999	1 September 2002	3 years, 0 days	Air Force	Alain Richard Michèle Alliot-Marie	Jacques Chirac	[14] -
-		Contre-amiral Alain Coldefy	1 September 2002	15 July 2005	2 years, 317 days	Navy	Michèle Alliot-Marie	Jacques Chirac	[15] -
-		Amiral Hervé Le Riche	15 July 2005	1 September 2007	2 years, 48 days	Navy	Michèle Alliot-Marie Hervé Morin	Jacques Chirac Nicolas Sarkozy	[16] -
-		Amiral Pierrick Blairon	1 September 2007	12 March 2010	2 years, 192 days	Navy	Hervé Morin	Nicolas Sarkozy	[17] -
-		Général d'armée Pierre de Villiers	12 March 2010	15 February 2014	3 years, 340 days	Army	Hervé Morin Alain Juppé Gérard Longuet Jean-Yves Le Drian	Nicolas Sarkozy François Hollande	[18] -
-		Général d'armée aérienne Gratien Maire	15 February 2014	1 September 2016	2 years, 199 days	Air Force	Jean-Yves Le Drian	François Hollande	[19] -
-		Amiral Philippe Coindreau	1 September 2016	1 September 2018	2 years, 0 days	Navy	Jean-Yves Le Drian Sylvie Goulard Florence Parly	François Hollande Emmanuel Macron	[20] -
-		Amiral Jean Casabianca	1 September 2018	Incumbent	1 year, 347 days	Navy	Florence Parly	Emmanuel Macron	[21] [22]

References

1. Upper references are the official decree of nomination in French. Lower references are press articles in English.

1. Government of the French Republic (28 April 1948). "Décret portant regroupement des états-major généraux de la guerre, de la marine et de l'air et création de l'état-major général des forces armées". gallica.bnf.fr (in French). Retrieved 20 August 2019.
2. Government of the French Republic (28 April 1948). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". gallica.bnf.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
3. Government of the French Republic (7 April 1977). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
4. Government of the French Republic (6 July 1979). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
5. Government of the French Republic (3 October 1983). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
6. Government of the French Republic (6 February 1985). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
7. Government of the French Republic (23 December 1986). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
8. Government of the French Republic (7 November 1990). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
9. Government of the French Republic (20 July 1992). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
10. Government of the French Republic (9 May 1994). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
11. Government of the French Republic (3 August 1995). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
12. Government of the French Republic (1 August 1996). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
13. Government of the French Republic (19 March 1998). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
14. Government of the French Republic (8 July 1999). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
15. Government of the French Republic (1 August 2002). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
16. Government of the French Republic (4 July 2005). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
17. Government of the French Republic (2 August 2007). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
18. Government of the French Republic (11 March 2010). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
19. Government of the French Republic (16 January 2014). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
20. Government of the French Republic (7 July 2016). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
21. Government of the French Republic (11 July 2018). "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
22. Xavier Vavasseur (17 September 2019). "U.S. Navy Europe's Top Admiral Highlights French-American Alliance". Naval News. Retrieved 1 March 2020.