Numerous suggestions had been made for the use of balloons during the French Revolutionary Wars, and in 1793 the Committee of Public Safety began testing their potential.

At the end of October 1793, chemist Jean-Marie-Joseph Coutelle and his assistant, the engineer Nicolas Lhomond, were sent to join the Army of the North,[3] with 50,000 livre to acquire equipment.

[2] They were given a letter from Lazare Carnot commending them to General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan and representative Ernest Dominique François Joseph Duquesnoy, which informed them that "Citizen Coutelle is not a charlatan".

[3] However, on arrival, Jourdan ridiculed the project, ordering Coutelle back to Paris, with the message that an Austrian attack was imminent, and a battalion was required, not a balloon.

[2] Back in Paris, the Committee of Public Safety ordered further tests on the balloon technology,[2] to be conducted at the Chateau de Meudon, where the Aerostatic Development Centre was founded.

[3] Guyton had already supervised the construction at Meudon of the Martial, a cylindrical balloon, which was supplied to the corps soon after the battle, but it proved too unstable for use.

They were not directly involved in any action,[3] but Jourdan appears to have warmed to the balloonists, printing official correspondence forms depicting a balloon above his army.

In September 1796, they were at the Battle of Würzburg when the French Army was defeated, and the entire company was taken captive with its balloon L'Intrépide, which is now on display at the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna.

Coutelle withdrew to Meudon, overcome by fever, and new commander Delaunay was unable to work with the new General, Lazare Hoche, who refused to let them participate in any action.