Délégation Générale pour l'Armement

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The Délégation Générale pour l'Armement (literally, the "General Delegation for Weaponry"), or DGA, is the French government agency which conducts development and evaluation programs for weapon systems for the French military. (Nuclear warheads and nuclear submarine power plants are designed by the division of military applications of the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (CEA)).

The DGA also formerly had a division for building warships, the Direction des Constructions Navales ("direction of naval building"), now formed into a state-owned corporation, DCN.

In addition, DGA supervises engineering schools that operate under the supervision of the Ministry of Defense (École Polytechnique, ENSTA, SUPAERO, ENSIETA, ENSICA). The high-level military staff of DGA, the ingénieurs de l'armement (IA, literally, "Weaponry Engineers"), are commissioned officers, who are generally graduates of the École Polytechnique, then the ENSTA or SUPAERO.

The DGA coordinates the programs of weaponry with industry in France, within Europe, but also with customers for export. With the service of Europe of Defense, the DGA supports the emergence of programs of armament in co-operation and contributes to the development of the European Agency of defense. Fifteen programs of armament are undertaken in co-operation. OCCAr (Joint Organization of Co-operation as regards Armament) ensures the control of six programs intended to equip, inter alia, the French forces: combat Tiger helicopter, ground-to-air missiles short Roland/Frole range, radar of against-battery Cobra, family of ground-to-air systems future (FSAF), military transport aircraft A400M, system of anti-aircraft fight PAAMS.

The DGA also comprises of testing and expertise of materials and military technologies. Thus, dispersed around all of France, are test centres carrying out tests in advanced technologies, that it is in the aeronautical field and missiles (Flight test centre bases of Istres, Bretigny, Cazaux and Toulouse, Centre of Tests of Launching of Missiles Biscarosse site, island of raising and Gâvres, the center of expertise LRBA in Vernon), electronics, data processing and information system security (CELAr in Rennes CTSN in Toulon...), These services contribute to the validation of the industrial materials, but also to the qualification of the systems to the profit of the directions of programmes. Recently reorganized (2004) as a tool allowing coherence in everyone of its activities so much in the control of the programs (subdirectorate of coordination of program) that in the technical approach inter-systems (Service of architecture inter-systems) that in the technological developments (responsible for poles).