[citation needed] In 2011, the French Government awarded the Opale-Défense consortium a contract, for financing, designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining the complex for thirty years.

[4] Agence Nicolas Michelin & Associés[5] designed the seven-story command and control center, on a former army air base near the Balard (Paris Métro) in the 15th arrondissement.

[8] Half of the complex is renovation,[2] including an old navy building, designed in 1934 by Gustave and Auguste Perret.

[5] The complex boasts a real drawbridge, interior gardens,[9] missile-strike-resisant walls and an underground operational room.

As such, the entirety of the command structure of the military is housed here: However, the civil administration of the Ministry and the Minister are still headquartered at the Hôtel de Brienne in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.