Corps de l'armement explained

Unit Name:Corps de l'armement
Dates:1968-present
Country: France
Branch:Aerospace & Defence
Type:Corps of military engineers
Role:Management of Aerospace & Defence Programmes, Research & Testing
Size:2000

The Corps de l'armement, or corps des ingénieurs de l'armement[1] is a Technical Grand Corps of the French State (grand corps de l'Etat),[2] aimed at providing the French Armed Forces with all appropriate equipment and supervising the French Aerospace & Defence industry.

The corps members are the ingénieurs de l'armement, or ingénieurs du corps de l'armement, nicknamed "IA" in French. They are high level engineers and public servants with military status, originating for most of them (more than 2/3 by decree[3]) from Ecole polytechnique[4] and trained at Institut supérieur de l'aéronautique et de l'espace (ISAE) (formation SUPAERO), ENSTA Paris, or other French or international universities.

The Corps de l'armement's main employer (50%) is the Direction générale de l'armement (General Directorate for Armament).[5] The second half are employed in other bodies of the Ministry of Defence, in international Defence organizations (NATO, OCCAR,...), can be detached in French administrative bodies (CNES, CEA, ESA,...), or the French and European industry (EADS, Safran, Thales Group, MBDA, DCNS...).

Prehistory of the Corps de l'armement

The Corps of Armament was created in 1968 as a fusion of previous Corps of military engineers[6] recruiting at Ecole polytechnique.

In 1743, the "Ecole des constructeurs de vaisseaux royaux" was created to train Naval engineers. The school is known today as ENSTA ParisTech.

Corps of Armament and high-tech Colbertism

The role played by the Corps of Armament in the development of the French aerospace and defence industry, in particular with the logic of Grands Projets (Concorde, Airbus,[9] Ariane,...), can be compared with the role of the Corps des télécommunications in the development of the French telecom industry (telephone, Minitel,...), the role of the Corps des mines, or the Corps des ponts with their respective Grands Projets (Nuclear industry, TGV,...). They illustrate Colbertism, a French version of mercantilism.

Colbertism dates back to the 17th century, influenced at that time by the Chinese system. French high public servants are nicknamed "mandarins", referring to their Chinese counterparts.

The French economist Elie Cohen described the effects of French Colbertism in the field of High tech in a book entitled "High tech Colbertism - Economics of the Grand Projet" (1995).[10]

High tech Colbertism can be characterized by a prevalent role played in France by the Administration and the Grand Corps. A typical Colbertist mechanism is the "pantouflage" where top civil servants become Heads of French public companies. The word "pantouflage" cannot be directly translated in English nor in any Western language but can be translated in Japanese where a comparable mechanism exists. The Japanese word is "amakudari" ("fallen from the sky").

Notable members of the Corps de l'armement

Heads of other public bodies

Top industrialists

Aerospace engineers

Naval, nuclear & telecom engineers

Grades

See also

Notes and References

  1. http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000019476505 Décret n° 2008-941 du 12 septembre 2008 portant statut particulier du corps militaire des ingénieurs de l'armement
  2. http://www.mines.org/docs/2012141126_rapport_canepa_folz_200901.pdf Rapport Canepa–Folz au Premier Ministre sur l’avenir des corps d’ingénieurs de l’Etat, janvier 2009
  3. http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexteArticle.do;jsessionid=C7375DD35E03C8F710E4C7FF6206B59D.tpdjo14v_3?idArticle=LEGIARTI000019480642&cidTexte=LEGITEXT000019480605&dateTexte=20121003 Décret n° 2008-941 du 12 septembre 2008 portant statut particulier du corps militaire des ingénieurs de l'armement, CHAPITRE II : RECRUTEMENT
  4. Web site: Site de l'Ecole polytechnique - Direction de l'enseignement, Ingénieur de l'armement . 2012-09-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20061128083621/http://catalogue.polytechnique.fr/programme.php?id=205&langue=FR . 2006-11-28 . dead .
  5. http://www.defense.gouv.fr/dga/recrutement2/recrutement-de-militaires-de-l-armement Site officiel de la DGA, Les ingénieurs de l'armement (IA) exercent des fonctions de direction, de contrôle, d'inspection et de coordination dans toutes les activités relatives à l'armement
  6. http://ensmp.net/1968/1968carrieres.pdf Site de l'Ecole des mines de Paris, 1968, Les carrières d'ingénieurs de l'armement, Lettre du Délégué ministériel à l'armement Michel Fourquet aux polytechniciens de la promotion X68
  7. http://www.patronsdefrance.fr/Database/Institution_fr.php?ID=CoAc10654 Patrons de France, Le corps du génie maritime se compose, à l'origine, des ingénieurs chargés de diriger la construction de vaisseaux et les travaux relatifs à ce service
  8. Web site: site ENSTA, Le corps du Génie Maritime a fusionné en 1967 et 1970 avec cinq autres corps d'ingénieurs militaires, pour former le corps des ingénieurs de l'armement . 2012-10-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120619101614/http://geniemaritime.ensta-paristech.fr/images/parcours_genie_maritime.pdf . 2012-06-19 . dead .
  9. Du Concorde à l'Airbus, de la stratégie de l'arsenal à la stratégie du marché, Pierre Müller, FNSP, 1985
  10. http://www.elie-cohen.eu/article.php3?id_article=139&var_recherche=colbertisme Le Colbertisme high tech : Economie des Télécom et du Grand Projet Hachette, Pluriel, 1992

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