Deputy Operation Commander Rear Admiral (LH)Jean-Marc LE QUILLIEC
Rear Admiral Jean-Marc Le Quilliec was born in Dinan, France. He graduated from the French Naval Academy in 1991 and specialised in gunnery and above-surface warfare. Later, he graduated from the French War College in 2004 and the Australian Defense and Strategic Studies Course in 2019. He also holds a master’s degree in international relations at Sorbonne University and is fellow of Deakin University, Australia.
Rear Admiral Le Quilliec has had a distinguished career in the French Navy, marked by a broad spectrum of command and operational responsibilities both at sea and ashore. Over the course of his service, he has operated extensively in the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea, leading and participating in complex military and civilian missions across various geopolitical theaters.
At sea, Rear Admiral Le Quilliec took part in numerous military operations, beginning with his engagement in the Balkans conflict during operations in the former Yugoslavia (1993–1995). He later participated in Operation BALISTE during the Lebanon crisis of July 2006, and later in a special operation in 2016.
In addition, Rear Admiral Le Quilliec has led a wide range of civil and maritime security missions. These include commanding efforts in the fight against oil pollution, notably during the response to the Erika shipwreck in 1999, and playing a key role in counter-narcotics operations, such as the seizure of 4.5 tonnes of cocaine in the Gulf of Guinea in 2008. He later contributed significantly to international maritime security efforts during the global fight against piracy from 2008 to 2014, as well as in fisheries surveillance and combating illegal migration. Finally, he has played key strategic and liaison roles in several high-profile international frameworks. Notably, he was involved in Operation ATALANTA in 2009 and 2014, the European Union’s counter-piracy mission off the Somali coast, and worked from 2009 to 2012 at NATO maritime HQ in Northwood, contributing to military cooperation and key leader engagement for anti-piracy operations in the Indian Ocean. More recently he was the Defense Attaché to Australia and New-Zealand, based in Canberra from 2020 to 2023.
Since September 2025, Rear Admiral Le Quilliec has served as Deputy Operation Commander of EUNAVFOR MED IRINI in Rome.
Jean-Marc Le Quilliec has been awarded the French Légion d’Honneur and the French National Order of Merit, both at the rank of an officer. He has also received the Croix de la Valeur Militaire (Military Valour Cross), the Combatant’s Medal and commemorative medals for Lebanon, Sahel, Middle East and former Yugoslavia. He is a knight of the French Maritime Order, the Malagasy National Order and the Brazilian Tamandaré Merit Order.
