The North Atlantic Council Monday nominated French Air Force Gen. Denis Mercier to the post of Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT), headquartered in Norfolk, Va.
Mercier will succeed French Air Force Gen. Jean-Paul Palomeros at a change of command ceremony in September in Norfolk.
Photo: French Air Force
Mercier will be the third French Air Force chief of staff to command SACT. Before Palomeros, in 2009, French Gen. Stephane Abrial became the first non-U.S. officer to lead the command, becoming one of NATO’s two supreme allied commanders. Abrial succeeded U.S. Marine Gen. James Mattis.
In a statement, NAC said,” On behalf of all Allied governments, the North Atlantic Council expressed deep and lasting gratitude for the distinguished service rendered by Gen. Palomeros as the Supreme Allied Command Transformation.”
Mercier currently serves as the chief of staff of the French Air Force–a role he assumed in the fall of 2012 from Palomeros as he left to become SACT.
His official biography said Mercier joined the French Air Force academy in 1979 and qualified as a fighter pilot in 1983. Mercier is experienced as an operational commander and as a fighter pilot, having flown 182 combat missions and more than 3,000 flying hours, mostly on Mirage F1C and Mirage 2000C aircraft.