Monique Legrand-Larroche, the general who no longer lets the “Hello gentlemen” pass

In her new office at the Directorate General of Armaments, in the heart of the Balard hexagon (Paris 15th) where small hands and high ranking officers of the French Army are busy, Monique Legrand-Larroche heaves a slight sigh. At the age of 60, the one who was promoted to Inspector General of the Armed Forces at the end of July, raised to the rank of 5-star general, a first for a French woman, hears the noise of the twisters from the Issy-les-Moulineaux heliport all day long. … without seeing the devices, the fault being a wall blocking his view. A real frustration for this fan of propellers who even had a joystick placed on her large maintenance table.

“When I was young, I wanted to have fun doing math. And I was very quickly attracted to helicopters. I’ve always been fascinated by their performance and their three-dimensional capabilities”, details the one who has Passed his pilot’s license after graduating from the Ecole polytechnique (X 1982). The general engineer of exceptional class (his official rank) Monique Legrand-Larroche, it is a rare word, measured, calibrated.

Her in-depth knowledge of helicopters, which led her to lead the country’s aeronautical maintenance department (2018-2022), she owes it to her scientific training. Her father was already a professor at Polytechnique and although the school did not open to women until 1972, Monique Legrand-Larroche quickly showed herself determined to go. “One day, my brother is invited for a visit and I had to stay at home because girls were forbidden. It stung me to the quick. It was a challenge vis-à-vis the institution” , confides the one who was able to meet Elisabeth Borne on the benches (X 1981) and who was touched by her appointment to Matignon, a symbol of the success of these 10% of women (compared to 24% today) who then managed to push the doors of the X.

“Convincing girls that armament is an exciting sector”

This battle for gender equality has been an almost daily battle since she joined the Directorate General for Armaments in 1987, this body of the Ministry of the Armed Forces preparing the future of French defense systems, which she joined after a doctorate. in theoretical mechanics. “Unfortunately, a woman has to demonstrate twice as much as a man that she is legitimate. Even with 5 stars on a minister’s uniform and tenure [NDLR : Florence Parly], I always feel it”, says the engineer, who does not hesitate to make himself heard. “The classic case is someone who enters a room and says “Hello gentlemen”. It still exists. In this case, I make a remark, I do not let it pass”, she confides.

According to the highest ranking officer in the ministry, even in 2022, “the look on women is not always benevolent”, a feeling shared on the floors as evidenced by the flow of personal messages received after her appointment. “That’s why we still have to convince girls to study engineering and that armaments is a fascinating sector. Here, we bring meaning by equipping the country to defend ourselves. It’s precious!” retorts this mother of four boys, “not all scientists”, she lets go with a discreet smile, taking up the fight of Valérie André, this doctor-pilot who became the first female general officer in France in 1976.

When asked about the war in Ukraine, the general tempers, weighs her words. She barely concedes a hole in the tricolor military range: “We could have gone faster on the small combat drones”. On the other hand, it supports its supervisory minister when the latter asks industrialists in the defense sector to speed up the pace. “They have to organize themselves to be able to produce faster, to give the forces the systems they need. When I see criticism of our capacities, it annoys me”, storm Monique Legrand-Larroche.

Although she was an unsuccessful candidate for the supreme post of General Delegate for Armaments, finally awarded to Emmanuel Chiva, the interested party even seeing the last resistances of the glass ceiling, Sébastien Lecornu wants to believe that “his promotion is a strong act for accelerating the feminization of our armies. For many female soldiers, she can be a model,” the Minister of the Armed Forces told L’Express. A discussion that they can quickly deepen together. Monique Legrand-Larroche must precisely submit to him these days recommendations to accelerate the delivery of decorations to wounded soldiers, in particular for the special forces operating in all discretion. To great men – and great women! – The grateful Nation.