In times of peace, crisis or war, military action is conducted by successful amalgamation of the capabilities of land, sea and air forces. The task of defending the safety and security of the French people means a search for the greatest effectiveness in combat and requires joint, indeed interministerial, operations led by military personnel who excel at their art. It is a permanent search for the best balance between ‘jointness’ and the culture of each individual armed service in order to achieve a beneficial relationship between those who are specialists in their field.

This balance, whether it concerns personnel or materiel, will only be stable if it relates to the raison d’être of the Armed Forces, which is often different from the tasks on which they are in fact employed from day to day.

History has naturally led to a distinction between land and sea forces. Military aviation, and later, air forces, were born when advances in technology permitted decisive use of the third dimension. So great were its advantages that each service felt the need to retain control of its own air assets. The third dimension was therefore divided between different entities, each with its own reasoning and culture, and each with a different view of how aviation should be exploited.