Amiral Édouard Guillaud (born 10 July 1953)L'amiral Guillaud devient chef d'état-major
AFP-''

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

'', 27 January 2010 is a retired French Naval Officer and

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

. He devoted a significant part of his career to the design of the ''Charles De Gaulle''

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

, and eventually captained carrier de Gaulle. He served as Chief of the general staff headquarters of the Armies CEMA from 25 February 2010 to 2014.

Biography

Early life

Édouard Guillaud is the son of journalist Jean-Louis Guillaud (), former president of Agence France-Presse and TF1. He studied at the Lycée Hector Berlioz in Vincennes and at the Private Lycée Sainte-Geneviève in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

Military career

Édouard joined the École Navale in 1973.
Sauvegarde maritime, bilan de l'action de la marine nationale 2005/2006
French Ministry of Defence As an Enseigne de vaisseau ( vessel Ensign), he first served on the patroller ''La Paimpolaise'' from 1976 to 1978, monitoring the nuclear trials in Mururoa.L'amiral Guillaud, un marin très "ops"
Jean-Dominique Merchet, '' Libération'' Afterwards, he served consecutively for one year on two French nuclear ballistic missile submarines SNLE ''L'Indomptable'' and ''Le Redoutable'', following which he took command in 1979 of the minesweeper ''Lobelia'', for another year until 1980. The next year, he studied for a specialisation in gunnery and missiles. In the early 1980s, Guillaud was sent in exchange in the United States (U.S.). As a Lieutenant de Vaisseau (

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

) from 1981 to 1984, he then served as service chief on the aviso ''Amyot d'Inville'' and the squadron escorteurs launch missile ''Du Chayla'', then as a service operations chief on the squadron escorteur launch missile ''Kersaint'', cruising off the seas between

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

in 1983. From 1984 to 1987, he worked on the nuclear aircraft carrier programme, particularly on expert systems in the programming environment of the ship.Défenseur de la mer patrie
Jean-Dominique Merchet, '' Libération'' He was promoted to Capitaine de corvette in 1985. In 1987 he took command of the BATRAL ''Dumont d'Urville'' for one year, taking part in the operations related to the Ouvéa cave hostage taking on Ouvéa,

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

. Guillaud went on to study at the Superior Naval War School () and the School of Military Application for Atomic Energy (), rising to Capitaine de frégate in 1989. He specialised in nuclear engineering, obtaining a degree in 1990. In 1991, with the start of the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

, Guillaud was sent on the ''Clemenceau'', where he served as a Maneuver Officer. In 1992, he took command of the aviso-escort '' Enseigne de vaisseau Henry'' (F749). In 1993, he re-integrated the design team for the nuclear carrier. Guillaud was promoted to Capitaine de vaisseau in 1996. The following year, he took the position of second officer on the ''Charles De Gaulle'', which was then being completed in Brest. From 1999 to 2001, Guillaud captained the nuclear carrier ''Charles De Gaulle'', supervising carrier de Gaulle's trials and fittings. The next year, he studied at the Centre des hautes études militaires CHEM and at the Institut des hautes études de Défense nationale IHEDN.

Admiral

From 2002 to 2004, he served as the assistant () chief to the

navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

of the

Chief of the Military Staff of the President of the Republic The Chief of the Military Staff of the President of the Republic (''Chef d'état-major particulier du président de la République'') is a role in the military of France, military and Cabinet of France, government of France, heading the president of ...

. Between 2004 and 2006, Contre-Amiral ( Counter-Admiral) Guillaud was préfet maritime for the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

and the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. He was promoted to Vice-Amiral ( Vice-Admiral) on 1 April 2006. The same year, he was called by Jacques Chirac to take on the position of

CEMP-P.R., replacing General Georgelin; Guillaud took the office on 4 October, and was confirmed in this role in May 2007 after the election of Nicolas Sarkozy. As a Vice-amiral d'escadre ( Squadron vice-admiral), he was promoted to Amiral (

) in December 2007. Guillaud has taken office as chief of the general staff headquarters of the Armies CEMA on 25 February 2010, and is the second Admiral of France to take this post. Since 19 March 2011, he has commanded the French forces enforcing the Libyan no-fly zone. In 2013 he commanded the French Forces in the Mali Civil War. He left active duty service on 14 February 2014 when général Pierre de Villiers succeeded him at head of the armies. He assumed a French armament directorate until 2017.

Decorations and medals

*Honorary Corporal of the French Foreign Legion.

Sources and references