Overview

For a competitive autonomy in Europe : the defence procurement policy

In 2002, the President of the Republic and the French government restated their intention to provide France with defence forces in keeping with the nation’s security interests and international ambitions. This intention is reflected in the 2003-2008 military programming law, which, in a demanding economic context, provides €15 billion per year for defence investments.

In 2004, the armament programmes management reform has highlighted two objectives for the Ministry of Defence activities :

  to reinforce government project ownership

  to help develop the defence industrial and technological base at the national and European level.

The Ministry of Defence is therefore responsible for building a high-performance defence system consistent with government priorities. To this end, it is implementing a procurement policy aimed at providing the French armed forces with the equipment they need to accomplish their tasks.

This policy is based on a principle of competitive autonomy, built around two complementary goals :

  optimising the economic efficiency of investments made by the Ministry of Defence to meet armed forces’ requirements ;
  guaranteeing access to the industrial and technological capabilities on which the long-term fulfilment of these requirements depends.

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