Bastille Day 2026, Paris France

In the 18th century the French government and her citizens grew further apart. The citizens, shopkeepers and craftsmen became poorer while King Louis XVI had absolute power and lived with part of the nobility in luxury. In 1789 the people revolted and forced their way into Hotel des Invalides, where the king’s weapons were stored, while the gunpowder for the weapons was in the Bastille wherever many political prisoners were imprisoned. This gave plenty of reasons to storm the Bastille, which happened on the 14th of July 1789, and the citizens demanded the surrender of the military leader of the prison, Bernard René Launay, and the prisoners were freed.It was the first time that citizens revolted against the king and the king couldn’t do anything. That’s why this liberation is the most symbolic moment of the French Revolution. After this the citizens went to Versailles where King Louis XVI and his wife Marie-Antoinette lived. The king, his wife and members of the court were beheaded.

The Bastille was built to protect the east side of Paris during the Hundred Years war between France and England in the 14th century. Originally the Bastille was a castle with walls 30 meters high and 1 meter thick, during the reign of Louis XIII it became a prison where citizens who were seen as enemies of the king were imprisoned. The storming of the Bastille is so important because the monarchy living in luxury had fallen! Paris, the city where the storming of the Bastille took place, is the center of attention during the important Bastille Day. The day begins with a military parade down the Champs Elysées towards the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de la Concorde. The military parade contains about 4.000 soldiers from the Air Force, Navy and Army, police officers and firefighters. This parade is the largest and oldest military parade in Europe. The army vehicles and the Gardes Républicaines on horses and in traditional uniforms make this event very impressive. After this parade there is a fly-past of military aircraft and helicopters starting with the jets of the Patrouille de France withplumes of red, white and blue smoke.

The aerial parade consisted of 98 fixed-wing aircraft, including eight from foreign countries, and 32 helicopters.
The parade was devided in several parts, all carrying a theme. The following segments were flown:

Opening flypast: Patrouille de France
Patrouillle de France with two Mirage 2000B aircraft flown by French instructors, with Ukrainian student pilots seated in the rear cockpit.

Entrée en premier: intervention (First in: intervention)
In this formation were 5 Rafale (30e escadre de chasse), 3 Rafale (Forces aériennes stratégiques), 2 Rafale (Centre d’expertise aérienne militaire), 1 Rafale (Escadron de transformation Rafale), 2 Rafale (5e escadre de chasse), 4 allied aircraft (EF2000 from Germany, F-16D from Greece, JAS39C from Sweden and F-35B from UK), 10 Mirage 2000D, 2 Mirage 2000-5, 3 A330 MRTT Phénix.

Posture permanente de sûreté (Permanent air security posture)

1 E-3F AWACS, 2 Mirage 2000-5 and 2 Rafale.

Marine nationale  (French Navy)

13 Rafale Marine and 1 E-2C Hawkeye.

Renseignement surveillance (Intelligence and surveillance)

1 Rafale (30e escadre, RECO NG reconnaissance pod), 2 Mirage 2000D (ASTAC electronic intelligence pod), 1 Falcon 50, 2 ALSR (Vador) and 2 Atlantique 2.

Appui aux opérations (Operational support)

6 A400M Atlas (France), 2 A400M Atlas (United Kingdom), 2 A400M Atlas (Germany), 2 C-130J (France), 2 C-130J (Germany) and 4 CN235 (France).

Forces spéciales” (Special forces)

1 A400M Atlas, 2 H225M Caracal, 1 C-130 Hercules and 1 De Havilland Canada Twin Otter.

After the fixed wing aircraft the helicopter formations passed:

Protection du territoire national

3 AS555 Fennec, 1 SA330 Puma and 1 H225M Caracal.

Assaut et appui de feu

AS565 Panther (Marine nationale)

Reconnaissance et attaque

HAD Tigre (1er régiment d’hélicoptères de combat)

and closing the aerial parade

Interministerial and innovation

H160 (DGA Essais en vol), Helicopters of the Gendarmerie nationale, H145 (Sécurité civile) and EC135 (Douane française).