The Corps de l'armement (), or Corps des ingénieurs de l'armement () is a Technical

Grand Corps of the French State Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor Places * Grand, Oklahoma, USA * Grand, Vosges, village and commune in France with Gallo-Roman amphitheatre * Grand County (disambiguation), se ...

(''grand corps de l'Etat'' ), aimed at providing the

French Armed Forces The French Armed Forces (, ) are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force, and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' milita ...

with all appropriate

equipment Equipment most commonly refers to a set of tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by ...

and supervising the French

Aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

& 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 A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

status, originating for most of them (more than 2/3 by decree) from Ecole polytechnique and trained at

Institut supérieur de l'aéronautique et de l'espace The Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (, ISAE-SUPAERO; ) is a French ''grande école'' of engineering, founded in 1909. It is the world's first dedicated institute of aerospace engineering. ISAE-SUPAERO is part of University ...

(ISAE) (formation SUPAERO),

ENSTA Paris The ENSTA Paris, officially École nationale supérieure de techniques avancées (; ), is a French graduate school of engineering (''école d'ingénieurs''). Founded in 1741, it is the oldest ''grande école'' in France. It is located in Palaisea ...

, or other French or international universities. The Corps de l'armement's main employer (50%) is the

Direction générale de l'armement The Direction générale de l'armement (, , abbr. DGA), 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 ...

( General Directorate for Armament). The second half are employed in other bodies of the Ministry of Defence, in international Defence organizations (

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, OCCAR,...), can be detached in French administrative bodies (

CNES CNES () is the French national space agency. Headquartered in central Paris, the agency is overseen by the ministries of the Armed Forces, Economy and Finance and Higher Education, Research and Innovation. It operates from the Toulouse Spac ...

, CEA, ESA,...), or the French and European industry (

EADS Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate defence and space and helicopter divisions. Airbus has long been th ...

Safran Safran S.A. () is a French Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace, defence industry, defence and computer security, security corporation headquartered in Paris. It designs, develops and manufactures both commercial and military airc ...

Thales Group Thales S.A., Trade name, trading as Thales Group (), is a French multinational corporation, multinational aerospace and defence industry, defence corporation specializing in electronics. It designs, develops and manufactures a wide variety of aer ...

MBDA MBDA is a European multinational corporation specialized in the design, development and manufacturing of Missile, missiles and related systems.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 recruiting at Ecole polytechnique. * Corps of Aeronautics engineers (corps des ingénieurs de l'air - or de l'aéronautique) * Corps of naval engineers (corps du génie maritime) * Corps of Powders and Explosives engineers (corps des ingénieurs des poudres et explosifs) * Corps of Military Telecom engineers (corps des ingénieurs des télécom militaires) * Corps of Armament Fabrications engineers (corps des ingénieurs des fabrications d'armement) In 1743, the "Ecole des constructeurs de vaisseaux royaux" was created to train Naval engineers. The school is known today as

ENSTA ParisTech The ENSTA Paris, officially École nationale supérieure de techniques avancées (; ), is a French graduate school of engineering (''école d'ingénieurs''). Founded in 1741, it is the oldest ''grande école'' in France. It is located in Palaisea ...

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, 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 The () is the foremost technical Grand Corps of the French State (). It is composed of the state industrial engineers. The Corps is attached to the French Ministry of Economy and Finance. Its purpose is to entice French students in mathematic ...

, or the Corps des ponts with their respective Grands Projets (Nuclear industry, TGV,...). They illustrate Colbertism, a French version of

mercantilism Mercantilism is a economic nationalism, nationalist economic policy that is designed to maximize the exports and minimize the imports of an economy. It seeks to maximize the accumulation of resources within the country and use those resources ...

. 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).Le Colbertisme high tech : Economie des Télécom et du Grand Projet Hachette, Pluriel, 1992
/ref> 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 the
Direction générale de l'armement The Direction générale de l'armement (, , abbr. DGA), 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 ...

* Henri Martre, délégué général pour l'armement (1977-1983), CEO

Aérospatiale Aérospatiale () was a major French state-owned aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, defence corporation. It was founded in 1970 as () through the merger of three established state-owned companies: Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation ...

(1983-1992). * Yves Sillard, Director general of

(1976-1982), CEO

IFREMER The or Ifremer is an oceanographic institution in Brest, France. A state-run and funded scientific organization, it is France’s national integrated marine science research institute. Scope of works Ifremer focuses its research activities in ...

(1982-1989), délégué général pour l'armement (1989-1993).

Heads of other public bodies

* Frédéric van Roekeghem, director of the French national health insurance fund. * Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, former

directeur général de l'aviation civile The Directorate General for Civil Aviation (, DGAC) is the France, French civil aviation authority. Its headquarters are in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, 15th arrondissement of Paris, 50 Henry-Farman. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Eco ...

and Directeur général d'

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

. * Alain Bugat, headed the

Commissariat à l'énergie atomique The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, or CEA ( French: Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives), is a French public government-funded research organisation in the areas of energy, defense and sec ...

(2003-2009). * Guillaume Poupard, CEO of the French National Cybersecurity Agency.

Top industrialists

Jean-Paul Herteman Jean-Paul Herteman is a French aerospace engineer, materials scientist and chief executive. He was CEO of Safran until 23 April 2015, the French Aerospace engine & equipment manufacturer and Chairman of both the French Aerospace Industries Associ ...

, CEO

, Chairman of GIFAS, Vice Chairman of Conseil général de l'armement. * Marwan Lahoud, Head of

France, former CEO of

MBDA MBDA is a European multinational corporation specialized in the design, development and manufacturing of Missile, missiles and related systems.Henri Martre, Délégué général pour l'armement (1977-1983), CEO

(1983-1992). * Serge Tchuruk, president of Total, then Alcatel Lucent.

Aerospace engineers

* René Audran, Director of International Affairs at DGA, assassinated by Action directe in 1985. *

Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry (19 October 1927 – 11 March 1963) was a French Air Force lieutenant colonel, military air-weaponry engineer and the creator of the Nord SS.10/SS.11 missiles. Bastien-Thiry attempted to assassinate French president Char ...

, famous for attempting to assassinate French president

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

in 1962. * Roger Béteille, one of the founders of

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

. *

Jean-François Clervoy Jean-François André Clervoy (; born 19 November 1958) is a French engineer and a CNES and ESA astronaut. He is a veteran of three NASA Space Shuttle missions. Early life and education Clervoy was born 19 November 1958 in Longeville-lès-Met ...

, astronaut. *

François Hussenot François Hussenot (; 22 March 1912 – 16 May 1951) was a French engineer, credited with the invention of one of the early forms of the flight data recorder. He attended the École polytechnique from 1930 to 1932. After graduation, he attended ...

, credited with the invention of one of the early forms of the flight data recorder. *

Henri Ziegler Henri Ziegler CVO, CBE (18 November 1906 in Limoges – 24 July 1998, in Paris) was one of the founders of Airbus and its first president. An engineer, he was a graduate of the École Polytechnique and of "Sup'Aéro" (the national aerospace e ...

, one of the founders of

Naval, nuclear & telecom engineers

* Louis-Émile Bertin, naval engineer. *

Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot (; 1 June 1796 – 24 August 1832) was a French people, French military engineering, military engineer and physicist. A graduate of the École polytechnique, Carnot served as an officer in the Engineering Arm (''le ...

, physicist described as the father of

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, Work (thermodynamics), work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed b ...

. *

Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières (; 20 May 1815 – 16 February 1895) was a French military engineer and general whose ideas revolutionized the design of fortifications in France. He gave his name to the Séré de Rivières system of fortificat ...

, fortification engineer and general.

Grades

* Engineer-General, Exceptional Class (IGCEA), relative rank as

général d'armée is the French word for general. There are two main categories of generals: the general officers (), which are the highest-ranking commanding officers in the armed forces, and the specialist officers with flag rank (), which are high-level offic ...

Engineer-General, Senior Class (IGHCA), relative rank as

général de corps d'armée An army corps general or corps general is a rank held by a general officer who commands an army corps. The rank originates from the General officer#French Revolutionary system, French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. Nor ...

Engineer-General, First Class (IG1A), relative rank as

général de division Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps ...

Engineer-General, Second Class (IG2A), relative rank as général de brigade * DGA-COL

Chief Engineer (with two years in the grade) (ICA), relative rank as

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Chief Engineer Second Class (with less than two years in the grade) (ICA), relative rank as Lieutenant-colonel * DGA-CEN

Principal Engineers (IPA), relative rank as

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Engineer (step 4 to 9) (IA), relative rank as

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Engineer (step 2 to 4) (IA), relative rank as

First Lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

Engineer (step 1) (IA), relative rank as Second Lieutenant

References

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