Advanced defence research

The Ministry’s research effort is clearly delineated as an acquisition process. The study themes retained are linked to a medium or long term defence requirement while retaining a basic research effort to ensure the necessary reactivity in face of accelerated technological changes.

Using this line of reasoning, the Ministry has been able to identify the technological capacities we need to master. Identifying a research requirement does not necessarily mean implementing a specific research effort by defence, because defence should know how to make the most of the available synergies with civil research. In fields drawn upon by civil markets, like computer science, electronics and telecommunications, defence should restrict its effort to the ’smallest’ specific defence aspect on the basis of technologies mastered by the civil sector, to achieve technologically and operationally superior materiel. In other fields like stealth materials, electronic warfare or nuclear defence, the responsibility for building our necessary technological capacities on the basis of civil scientific and technical competence farther upstream rests entirely on the defence sector.

Defence research is part of a specific context that aims to optimise the preparation of our technological capacities for a given budget. This will put us in a position to:

  design,

  manufacture or purchase intelligently the weapons most apt to meet our future operational requirements.

While defence research cannot be isolated from our country’s whole innovation effort, of course, it should integrate the European dimension.

Today, the Ministry of Defence undertakes two types of actions at the level of research:

  First by financing applied and technology research actions, mainly with manufacturers, on precise upstream study themes. These themes aim to explore the military potential of new technologies and put the defence industry in a position to be able to develop the defence equipment we do and will need by mastering the corresponding technologies. The annual budget allocated to advanced defence research studies is of the order of 600 M€.

  Then, subsidies are paid to research organisations (Onera, ISL, CEA, schools under DGA authority, which are Polytechnique, ENSAé, ENSTA, ENSICA et ENSIETA, and to the CNES, including research investments), which come to an annual budget of some 700 M€.

More information about DGA advanced defence research (only availbale in French)

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