In contrast with the US, and to a lesser extent the UK, the French Ministry of Defence has a simple structure. The Minister of Defence is supported by three senior staff: the Chief of the Defence Staff ("CDS"), who is responsible for capability related decisions (both in terms of requirements and deployment); a General Secretary of the Administration, who is responsible for matters relating to the budget, legal affairs and other support functions; and the Chief Executive of the Délégation générale pour l'armement ("DGA"). The DGA is the part of the ministry that acquires military equipment for all three of the French armed forces. In addition to its responsibilities relating to the research and development of force equipment, it is also charged with formulating and technical and industrial policies.
The support of in-service equipment (and the associated logistic support) is conducted by single-service organisations under the direction of CDS136. However, all those support organisations have DGA personnel on their teams, and design authority resides with the DGA throughout the life cycle of a system.
The DGA's mission is clearly articulated. It has three components:
• to prepare for future defence systems requirements;
• to equip the armed forces today; and
• to promote exports.
The organisational structure of the DGA mirrors these objectives, with an arrangement that is split into three divisions (and a supporting 'enabling layer'). The largest division deals with operations, including the delivery of equipment ('weapon system') projects. Two others deal with issues relating to arms export, and to weapons procurement strategy (including industrial policy).
The delivery function is arranged into multi-disciplinary project teams, akin to the IPTs that are familiar to those versant in the UK acquisition system. These teams draw on expertise (e.g., programme management, technical expertise and materiel testing) from throughout the DGA in order to manage all aspects of the programme. One particularity of the French system is the emphasis that is placed on the technical function that informs the running of specific programmes; the organisation employs more than 5,500 'technical experts'. The DGA also has a system in place for responding rapidly to urgent operational requirements as they arise. In this regard, the DGA's role in delivering equipment to satisfy urgent operational needs is similar to that of DE&S in managing the UOR process for the UK's armed forces.
A particular emphasis is given to international co-operation: alternative procurement strategies must be demonstrated to be improvements over collaborative solutions. In this way, the DGA promotes France's industrial and broader national interests across international borders.
DGA's forward budget, the Loi de Programmation Militaire (LPM), is constrained by having some status in law passed by the French parliament. The law sets targets (for example on staff numbers and on the volume of equipment to be delivered) and fixes military expenditure for each of the next six years.
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136 Nor does the DGA manage programmes in the equivalent to the 'concept phase' stages prior to the Assessment phase, which are managed within individual services.