General Directorate for Armament

The Direction générale de l’armement (DGA, Directorate General of Armaments in English), is the French Government Defense procurement and technology agency responsible for the program management, development and purchase of weapon systems for the French military.

The DGA coordinates the armament programs with industry in France, within Europe, but also with customers for export. Together with the Europe of Defence organization, the DGA promotes the development of armament programmes in co-operation and contributes to the development of the European Defence Agency. Fifteen cooperative armament programmes are under way. The OCCAr (Joint Organisation of Co-operation as regards Armament) ensures the control of six programmes 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.

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 is organized into two subdirectorates for the coordination of programs dealing respectively with the inter-systems technical approach (Service of architecture inter-systems) and with technological developments (responsible for domains).

In addition, DGA supervises engineering schools that operate under the scrutiny of the Ministry of defence (École polytechnique, ENSTA ParisTech, Supaéro, ENSTA Bretagne, ENSICA). The high-level military staff of DGA, the Corps of Armament whose memberts are the ingénieurs de l'armement (IA, literally, “Armament Engineers”), are commissioned officers, who are generally graduates of the École polytechnique, then the ENSTA or Supaéro. The main part of the engineers, the ingénieurs des études et techniques d'armement (IETA, literally, "weaponry studies and technics engineers") are graduates of the ENSIETA or ENSICA.

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