Overview
- The Ministry of the Armed Forces confirmed that Sergent-chef Thibaud Breteau died on February 16 after being critically injured during a February 14 handling operation on the French projected airbase in the Levant.
- He had been deployed since January 16, serving as assembly chief within the munitions division under France’s Operation Chammal.
- Breteau enlisted in 2013, served at Rochefort and Tours, completed earlier detachments to the Levant in 2017 and Niger in 2022–2023, and was promoted to sergent-chef in 2020.
- Based at BA 120 Cazaux since August 2020, he worked in the Alphajet armament shop and earned a higher specialist certification in September 2023.
- Air and Space Force chief Gen. Jérôme Bellanger issued condolences, and local officials in Gironde expressed grief; no further public details on the accident’s technical cause have been released.