The Ministry of Armed Forces (French: Ministère des Armées, pronounced [ministɛʁ dez‿aʁme], lit.

The position of Chief of the Defence Staff was held by French Army General Pierre de Villiers until 20 July 2017, when he resigned without an official reason.

[4] French Army General François Lecointre took over as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces the following day.

On 5 November 2015, French president François Hollande inaugurated The new French Defence Ministry headquarters at Balard Site, nicknamed Hexagone Balard or "Balardgon" to mimic its American counterpart The Pentagon.

It is a 250,000 square metres (2,690,978 Sq Ft) building on grounds measuring 39.5 acres (16.5 hectares).

The centre of the quadrilateral that forms the whole of the West plot consists of two buildings of hexagonal shape.