OCCAR, the multinational defence procurement agency entrusted with representing the seven launch nations for the A400M, was created by a December 1993 Franco-German agreement to form a co-operative armaments structure. Italy and the UK joined OCCAR in 1996, but full legal status for the entity was not obtained until 2001.
The Bonn-based agency's prime role is to improve efficiency and reduce costs in the European industrial and technology base by moving away from strict national workshare rules and moving towards the creation of a European armaments agency.
While the A400M will be by far the largest and most multinational programme ever managed by OCCAR, other projects under its jurisdiction include the French/German Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopter and various other collaborative radar and weapons systems.
Source: Flight International
