On 22nd November 1954, Aviation légère de l’armée de Terre – ALAT (the French Army Light Aviation) was formed to provide observation, reconnaissance, assault and supply duties for Armée de Terre (the French ground forces).
Development of the French military aviation is, from the very beginning, closely related to the history of the country´s ground forces. Already in 1912, the first aviation units were officially incorporated into the Army, becoming its new, fifth branch (after infantry, cavalry, artillery and engineers).
With the outbreak of the Great War, the military aviation was used for reconnaissance and artillery guidance. However, it was soon proved the aircraft might be used in a variety of tasks, including aerial combat. That rapid development of aviation caused the French authorities to make decision to separate the air force from the Army. Therefore, on 2nd July 1934, Armée de l’air (the French Air Force) was officially established.
However, the high command of the ground forces remained in position that the Army still needs its own aviation branch, independent from the air force and focused primarily on providing support tasks for Armée de Terre. Starting from the year 1937, the Army began with establishing Groupes d’Observation d’Artillerie – GOA (Artillery Observation Groups). This trend was stopped by the outbreak of the World War II, however the idea of artillery air support units returned shortly after the war.
In 1952, the French Army officially established its aviation force, subordinated to artillery and designated Aviation légère d’observation d’artillerie – ALOA (Light Aviation for Artillery Observation). On 22nd November 1954, the formation was transferred into Aviation légère de l’armée de Terre – ALAT (the French Army Light Aviation).
In its early years, ALAT used to operate a broad range of light aeroplanes, such as Piper L-18, Cessna L-19, SNCAC NC.856 Norvigie and Nord 3400 Norbarbe. Shortly after its establishment, the formation acquired its first helicopters – Alouette II and Vertol H-21, then supported by Sikorsky H-19 and H-34.
Over the next years, ALAT became specialized in helicopter warfare and then, in 1975, formed its first Regiment d’hélicoptères de combat – RHC (Combat Helicopter Regiment). During the 1970s, the French Army Light Aviation received new types of rotorcraft, including Alouette III, SA 330 Puma and SA 341 Gazelle.
At the beginning of the 1980s, ALAT created an experimental unit codenamed BAE (Brigade aéromobile expérimentale / Experimental Aeromobile Brigade) that in 1985 was converted into 4e division aéromobile – 4e DAM (the 4th Airmobile Brigade). At its peak, the Brigade consisted of four rotorcraft regiments with a total of 160 helicopters, one infantry regiment and one maintenance/support regiment.
On 7th October 2003, ALAT was officially separated from the artillery and became a separate branch of the French Army.
Nowadays, the ALAT´s airpower is still based on rotorcraft of various types. The French Army Light Aviation currently operates about 70 Eurocopter EC665 Tiger attack helicopters, almost forty examples of SA 330 Puma and AS532 Cougar, eight Airbus H225M and more than one hundred Gazelles. The latest additions to the ALAT fleet are including NHIndustries NH90 (about 70 examples) and Airbus H160 (80 examples).
In addition, the ALAT inventory includes also Pilatus PC-6 Porter and Socata TBM 700 transport aircraft, as well as Eurocopter AS555 Fenec and EC120 Colibri helicopters for training purposes.
Since its creation, Aviation légère de l’armée de Terre participated in almost all French foreign deployments, related to both military operations and humanitarian missions. Among them there were the French Indochina War, the Algerian War, the Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, conflicts in Somalia, Chad, Djibouti, Lebanon, NATO and UN operations, as well as 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami humanitarian operation.
