French Air and Space Force

The French Air and Space Force is the air and space branch of the French Armed Forces. It began in 1909 as the Service Aeronautique, a service arm of the French Army, and became an independent military branch in 1934 under the name French Air Force. On 11 September 2020 it took its present name to reflect a growing mission in outer space. Its fleet is built around the Dassault Mirage 2000 and the Dassault Rafale, and it employs roughly forty thousand regular personnel. Its chief of staff reports to the Chief of the Defence Staff, who answers to the civilian Minister of the Armed Forces. The force was active in the Algerian War from 1952 to 1962 and later flew in the Persian Gulf, the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Mali and Iraq.