The
Direction generale de l'armement
(
DGA
; English: Directorate General of Armament), established in 1961, is the
French Government
defence procurement and technology agency, responsible within the
Ministry of Armed Forces
for project management, development, and purchase of weapon systems for the
French military
.
[1]
The DGA's mission is to prepare the future of French defence systems, equip the
French Armed Forces
, as well as to promote French defence industry exports.
Armament project coordination
[
edit
]
The DGA coordinates armament projects with the industry in France, within Europe, but also with customers for export. Together with the Europe of Defence organisation, the DGA promotes the development of armament projects in co-operation and contributes to the development of the
European Defence Agency
. Fifteen cooperative armament projects are under way
[
when?
]
. The OCCAr (Joint Organisation of Co-operation as regards Armament) ensures the control of six projects intended to equip the French force, inter allia: combat
Tiger helicopter
, ground-to-air missiles short
Roland
/Frole range,
Cobra counter-battery radar
, family of ground-to-air systems future (FSAF),
A400M
military transport aircraft,
PAAMS
anti-aircraft system.
Other activities
[
edit
]
Testing and expertise
[
edit
]
The DGA also undertakes the testing and assessment of equipment and military technologies. Test centres are distributed across France to carry out studies in advanced technologies: DGA Hydrodynamics, DGA Aero-engine Testing, DGA CBRN Defence, DGA Information superiority, DGA Land Systems, DGA Missiles Testing, DGA Naval Systems, DGA Flight Testing, DGA Aeronautical Systems, DGA Engineering & Integration. These services contribute to the validation of industrial equipment, but also to the proving of military systems for the programme directorates. Since 2004 DGA, has been organised into two subdirectorates for the coordination of projects dealing respectively with the inter-systems technical approach (Service of architecture inter-systems) and with technological developments (responsible for domains).
Engineering schools
[
edit
]
In addition, the DGA supervises engineering schools that operate under the scrutiny of the Ministry of defence (
Ecole polytechnique
,
ENSTA ParisTech
,
Supaero
,
ENSTA Bretagne
,
ENSICA
). The high-level military staff of DGA, the
Corps of Armament
whose members are the
ingenieurs de l'armement
(IA, literally, "
Armament Engineers
"), are commissioned officers, who are generally graduates of the
Ecole polytechnique
, then the
ENSTA
or
Institut superieur de l'aeronautique et de l'espace
. The main part of the engineers, the
ingenieurs des etudes et techniques d'armement
(IETA, literally, "weaponry studies and technics engineers") are graduates of the
ENSIETA
or
ENSICA
.
Naval building
[
edit
]
The DGA also formerly had a division for building warships, the
Direction des constructions navales
("Directorate of Naval Construction"), now formed into a partly state-owned corporation, initially named
DCNS
in 2007 and rebranded
Naval Group
in 2017.
Officers of the
Corps de l'armement
have a unique rank structure.
- Ingenieur, (1er echelon)
("Engineer", first level, equivalent to a
Sous-lieutenant
)
- Ingenieur, (2e et 3e echelon)
("Engineer", second and third level, equivalent to a
Lieutenant
)
- Ingenieur, (4e au 9e echelon)
("Engineer", from fourth to ninth level, equivalent to a
Capitaine
)
- Ingenieur principal
("Lead Engineer", equivalent to a
Commandant
)
- Ingenieur en chef
("Chief Engineer" equivalent to a
Lieutenant-Colonel
before serving two years in this rank)
- Ingenieur en chef
("Chief Engineer" equivalent to a
Colonel
after serving two or more years in this rank)
- Ingenieur general de 2e classe
("Engineer-General, Second Class", equivalent to a
General de brigade
)
- Ingenieur general de 1er classe
("Engineer-General, First Class", equivalent to a
General de division
)
- Ingenieur general hors classe
("Engineer-General Beyond Class", equivalent to a
General de corps d'armee
). There are at least three (one for each service branch) but usually others are appointed to run the main divisions within the DGA.
- Ingenieur general de classe exceptionnelle
("Engineer-General, Exceptional Class", equivalent to a
General d'armee
). There is usually only one: the titular
Delegue General pour l'Armement
(the head of DGA).
Officers of the Corps des ingenieurs des etudes et techniques de l'armement have also a unique rank structure.
- Ingenieur, (1er echelon)
("Engineer", first level, equivalent to a
Sous-lieutenant
)
- Ingenieur, (2e au 5e echelon)
("Engineer", from second to fifth level, equivalent to a
Lieutenant
)
- Ingenieur, (6e au 10e echelon)
("Engineer", from sixth to tenth level, equivalent to a
Capitaine
)
- Ingenieur principal
("Lead Engineer", equivalent to a
Commandant
)
- Ingenieur en chef de 2e classe
("Chief Engineer, Second Class" equivalent to a
Lieutenant-Colonel
)
- Ingenieur en chef de 1er classe
("Chief Engineer, First Class" equivalent to a
Colonel
)
- Ingenieur general de 2e classe
("Engineer-General, Second Class", equivalent to a
General de brigade
)
- Ingenieur general de 1er classe
("Engineer-General, First Class", equivalent to a
General de division
)
See also
[
edit
]
- AGATE
, the architecture framework promoted by the DGA
Notes and references
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|