He joined the Ecole de l’Air (French Air Force Academy) in September 1975, was awarded his fighter pilot wings in Tours on the 30th of January 1979 and was then posted to Tactical Fighter Squadron 01/008 “Saintonge” at Cazaux AFB, where he attended the operational fighter course, flying Mystere IV A.

In June 1979, he joined Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron 01.033 “Belfort stationed at Strasbourg AFB, flying Mirage III R. Upon completion of all professional qualifications, he was appointed as flight commander (scheduler) to TRS 02.033 “Savoie”, which was about to be converted to Mirage F1 CR.

From May to July 1986, he was head of a Mirage F1 CR detachment in Chad. When he got back from Africa, he was posted to TFS 02.004 “La Fayette”, operating Mirage III E/AN52. In August 1982, he took command of the squadron and was in charge of its conversion to Mirage 2000 N/ASMP.

From August 1989 to June 1990, he attended the Command and Staff Course of the Canadian Forces in Toronto.

Upon completion of the course, he joined 33rd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing in Strasbourg, as Chief Operations, and in the autumn of 1990, he commanded the first Mirage F1 CR detachment deployed to Saudi Arabia, during “Desert Shield” operation.

In the summer of 1991 he organized the projection of the air component within the combined deployment of “Provide Comfort” operation, and was the commanding officer of the Mirage F1 CR detachment operating above Iraq from Incirlik AFB (Turkey). On the 27th of August 1992, he took command of 33rd TRW.

From September 1993 to summer 1994, he attended the National War College in Paris.

He was then posted to the Air Force Staff, General Plans, “Planning” office. He was appointed head of this office on the 4th of September 1996, and participated in preparing the 1997-2002 Defence Spending Plan and in the programming review, requested by the Minister of Defence. As “Airspace control” operational coherence officer, he participated in preparing the documents issued by MOD/General Staff and the Procurement Agency.

From the 17th of April to the 12th of June 1999, he was temporarily posted to Vicenza CAOC as deputy to the French SNR during the Kosovo war.

On the 2nd of September 1999, he took command of Nancy AFB that operates the three Mirage 2000 D squadrons of the French Air Force, in particular.

From October to December 2001, during the war in Afghanistan, he participated in the first French operational detachment to US Central Command in Tampa (Florida) as “AF adviser/targeting”.

In September 2002, he left Nancy AFB and was promoted to Brigadier General. He joined MOD/General Staff in Paris as Assistant to the Vice-Chief of Defence and headed the General Military Strategy office where he chaired a working group tasked by the Minister on Military Reserve. At the same time, he was a member of the Commission working on the revision of the General Status of the Military as well as the strategic orientation group for defining the Defence policy for Space.

September 2004, he was Head, Euro-Atlantic Division in the Defense Staff in Paris in charge of EU, NATO and UN relations as well as bilateral relations with northern hemisphere countries let aside Asia. He was promoted to the rank of Major General on September 1, 2005.

From 2006 to 2008 he was appointed Air Defense and Air operations Commander in chief, at Taverny, Paris and Lyon, France. Under the authority of the prime minister, he was then responsible for air policing and also for controlling rescue operations in the French Airspace.

In June 2008 he was posted to Brussels as French military representative to the European Union Military Committee at the time of the French Presidency of the EU.
In 2009 he was “dual-hatted” as French military representative to both the European Union and NATO Military Committees in Brussels.

Since September 1, 2010, he has been working for the Minister of Defence as General inspector of the armed forces and was promoted to the rank of General. Amongst his various responsibilities he was recently appointed as head of an interagency working group in charge of a “defence and security threats and challenges” working group for the French White Paper updating.

The Foreign Affairs Council, based on the proposal of the EU CHODs, appointed him as Chairman of the EU Military Committee. He will take up his new position on 6 November 2012.

General Patrick de Rousiers logs a total of 3,094 flying hours, among which 2,600 on jet-engined fighter aircraft. He participated in 76 war missions.
He was awarded a Commander in the Legion of Honor, a Commander in the National Order of Merit, the French Medal of Aeronautics and the German Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr in gold.

He is married to Bénédicte and is the father of five.

FR version