Just ten months after the scheme was launched by defence minister Charles Millon, France's ministry of defence has finished planning for a fundamental restructuring of the national armaments directorate, the Délégation Générale pour l'Armament (DGA).
At the heart of what is a profound re-organisation of the way the DGA operates is a targeted 30% cut in programme costs over the next six years, coupled with changes in management aimed at reducing the time taken for new programmes to be instigated. A complete revision of defence priorities has also been carried out.
DGA chief Jean-Yves Helmer says that the agency "must be more selective" in its choice of programmes. Citing the increasing costs of development and industrialisation, he adds that "-the high cost of existing programmes has meant that we had no choice but to stop some altogether, or stretch out delivery schedules".
The DGA now consists of three main directorates responsible for managing the preparation and implementation of new programmes - Force Systems and Trend Analysis; Weapons Systems and Programmes; and Procurement Methods and Quality. A further three have been formed to look after Evaluation and Test, Naval Construction and Aeronautical Maintenance, while two more will be charged with Co-operation and Industrial Affairs, and International Relations.
Increasing shares
Helmer describes France's defence policy as "resolutely European", signalling his desire to increase its "rather low" average stake in European programmes from 10% to 34% by 2002, mainly through increased co-operation with Germany, Italy and the UK. "Properly managed co-operation is a way of reducing costs," he says.
Further effort will also be devoted to pushing up France's proportion of global exports to give it 15% of the world arms market, up from the current 10%. "This cannot be done without significant support at a political level," he adds.
The hope is also that industrial re-organisation, including the merger of Aerospatiale and Dassault, and the privatisation of Thomson-CSF, will help improve programme efÌciency. "Our defence industry is involved in a revolution," says French defence minister Charles Millon recently. He says that the target of 30% cuts by 2002 is "ambitious, but realistic". In a recent presentation to the Government on the achievements to date, Helmer says that reductions of around Fr15.3 billion ($2.6 billion) had been achieved in 51 programmes, worth a total of Fr274 billion.
The changes are being rung virtually across the board of defence procurement. Combat aircraft, in particular, have been a target, with orders for the Dassault Mirage 2000 for the air force reduced and a delay in ordering the Dassault Rafale multi-role fighter.
The Loi de Programmation halved the rate of delivery of the remaining Mirage 2000Ds to six a year between July 1996 and December 1998, with the total number cut from 90 to 86. This year sees the Ìrst delivery to the air force of 37 Mirage 2000-DAs converted to 2000-5s, while deliveries also began of the first of 60 such machines for Taiwan, providing a much-needed boost for Dassault and the long list of suppliers for the aircraft.
Rafale costs cut
Industrialisation of the Rafale has been frozen since December 1995, along with the planned construction of the first examples in 1996. The argument between the ministry of defence and Dassault over the cost of the aircraft has been resolved, however, with agreement that the price be reduced by 10%. The hope now is that the initial order for a batch of 48 aircraft (33 for the air force, 15 for the navy) will be placed before the end of this year.
Another target is to clear production of an initial ten aircraft for the air force to enable formation of a "half squadron" from the end of 2002, which would give Dassault the credibility of a domestic order to help it pursue exports.
According to Helmer, the industry, which in the past ten years has seen reductions in its workforce of 100,000 employees, to around 200,000, achieved an overall improvement in performance, although there were exceptions, such as debt-ridden Giat Industries. "In 1996 overall, there was a general improvement in sales of 4.5% compared to 1995, with the results of the six main companies registering a strong increase", he says, adding that the number of people made unemployed halved in the same period.
The export effort is central to France's strategy. As Millon says: "It is no longer possible for French companies to live on domestic orders alone, so they must achieve more through foreign sales. But they must subscribe to our policy on military co-operation, which aims at global stability. It is necessary that we enter a new phase whereby we pursue a strategy not just of marketing, but also of partnership".
Source: Flight International
