Major General Damien de Marsac

Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans & Programs French Ministry of Defence

Major General de Marsac is a graduate from the Saint-Cyr Military Academy (class General Delestraint 1988-1991). Upon graduation he chose to serve in the Armoured Marine Infantry.

After one year in Saumur at the School of Cavalry, he chose the Armoured Marine Infantry Regiment (RICM) in Vannes where he served during 3 years, first as platoon leader then as executive officer. He participated in several missions or operations in the Central African Republic (French Operational Assistance Elements) in Bouar then in Bangui, as well as in former-Yugoslavia in Sarajevo within the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR).

From 1995 to 1997, he was posted to the 23rd Marine Infantry Battalion in Dakar (Senegal) in the framework of the French Forces in Cape Verde, as platoon leader then executive officer of the armoured squadron.

In 1997, he was appointed to the Armoured Infrantry Battalion (RMT) where he was executive officer then company commander. In 2000, he was deployed to Mitrovica in Kosovo within the KFOR.

Subsequently and until 2004, he was posted to Paris and attended the Joint Staff Course after obtaining a Master in System Management and Engineering from Supélec.

From 2004 to 2006, he was appointed as S3 of the Armoured Marine Infantry Regiment in Poitiers; in that framework, he was deployed to Operation Licorne in Republic of Côte d’Ivoire during the events of 2004, as head of Combined Arms Battlegroup n°1 in Bouake.

In 2006, he was appointed to the Army Technical Branch as programme officer for « armoured vehicles » and « jammers ». He was in charge in particular of the conduct of urgent operational requirements aimed at procuring counter-IED jammers, for the Lebanon and Afghanistan.

In 2009, he was posted to the Defence Staff/Plans-Programming-Evaluation and took part in the conduct of programme « P 146 – equipment of the forces ».

In the summer 2012, he travelled to the South Pacific region and assumed command of the Marine Infantry Regiment of the Pacific / New-Caledonia during 2 years.

From 2014 to 2019 he served at the Army Staff in Paris, first within the team in charge of designing the new model of Army called « Au Contact », then as deputy and head of Programming, Finance, Budget.

On 1st June 2019, he was promoted to Brigadier General. On 28th July, he was deployed for one year to Operation Barkhane as the Barkhane Representative in Mali of the FORCE CMDR, in Bamako. He took part in the overall manoeuvre of the Force in the coordination of operational planning with the partner Forces (Malian Armed Forces, G5 Sahel combined Force, MINUSMa, EUTM) and in the field of influence. He also represented Barkhane within the organisations in charge of the implementation of the peace agreements and the follow up of the Pau Summit commitments.

In the summer 2020, he was posted again to the Army Staff and was in charge, to the Vice-Chief of Army, of the updating works of the Military Programming Act as well as of the French-German MGCS project (Main Ground Combat System, the successor of the Leclerc and Leopard MBTs).

On 1st September 2021, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff/Plans and Programmes at the Army Staff.

Major General de Marsac is married and has four children.