Outline of the French Army at the end of the Cold War

The theoretical combat strength of the army was 295,989 soldiers, of the 557,904 individuals available for service across the entire French Armed Forces in 1989.

[2] In 1977 the Army had changed its military organisation in accordance with a short war-fighting strategy in Europe, and divisions lost their component brigades.

Under army headquarters in 1985 were the First Army, with three corps, the Rapid Action Force, an independent corps-level rapid deployment command, six military regions in the metropole (including the former Défense opérationnelle du territoire territorial defence forces), and forces overseas, including DOM-TOM, in Guyana, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Djibouti, Seychelles/Mayotte, New Caledonia, and French Polynesia.

None of these units possess Alouette III that is found only in peacetime in the 6th and 7th RHC each with ten machines.

The Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) is the foreign intelligence service of the French state.

The President of the French Republic François Mitterrand and the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Helmut Kohl reviewing French troops during maneuvers in West Germany in 1987.
AMX-30 of 11ème Régiment de Chasseurs in West Berlin . 11 June 1988.
A French soldier ready to fire an APILAS .
AMX-30 AuF1 in position, April 1989.
A battery from the 3rd Artillery Regiment at Camp Mailly on parade in 1989. They are armed with a rifle FAMAS .
One AMX-30 Pluton. A tactical nuclear weapon with a maximum range of 120 km and a power of 25 kt In service from 1974 to 1993.
One Gazelle/HOT SA-342M of 6 e RHC, 1992.
Logistics Convoy of the 511 e Régiment du Train of Operation Daguet.
SA 330 Puma helicopters during Operation Desert Shield.
VAB-HOT (Mephisto) of 2 e REI.
81mm mortar from the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment during the Battle of Kolwezi .
Structure of the active units of the French Army in Europe in 1989 (click to enlarge)
French Overseas Units in 1989 (click to enlarge)
A Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun of the 5th RIAM of Djibouti towed by a GMC CCKW in 1984.
Obusier de 155 mm Modèle 50 in Djibouti in 1979.