[Portrait] Directorate General of Armaments (DGA), the staff of an institution in full transformation

(B2) At the head of the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) since last July, Emmanuel Chiva, renewed the management team. He has built a staff of weapons engineers with specialized profiles, whose scope of responsibility will evolve. Their first mission: initiate a major transformation of the DGA expected for September 2023. Portraits.

Deputy General Manager – IGA Thierry Carlier

If Emmanuel Chiva is an atypical profile (read the Interview given to B2: “ Go further with others rather than alone...too far! »], his deputy, the general armament engineer (IGA) Thierry Carlier is a pure product of the house. When number 1 is responsible for revolutionizing and modernizing the house, number 2 must help find how to get the message across internally and how, as a connoisseur of the smallest mysteries, to avoid oversights, particularly regarding the coherence of professional careers. Joining the DGA in 1991, he worked on several missile projects, before piloting the improved medium-range air-to-ground cruise missile (ASMP). He is therefore familiar with nuclear deterrence, who will become director of the missiles and drones unit in 2007. He then takes on several strategic functions, particularly focused internationally, as deputy director of European cooperation and development. in 2013 and director of international development from 2018 to 2022.

Director of Operations (DO) – IGA Guilhem Reboul

Appointed in September 2022, Guilhem Reboul took the head of the first pillar of the DGA. He is responsible for leading equipment operations for the French forces, the main customer of national industry. Its teams listen to needs and translate them to suppliers. They must also ensure that contracts are properly executed. Polytechnician specializing in aeronautics, IGA G. Reboul joined the DGA in 1999 as a flight test engineer and led the first part of his career on the various Mirage programs until 2010, the year when he was " converted » on Rafale, as they say for pilots. He then worked on the project to modernize this aircraft to the F3-R standard and became director of the “unit” from 2020. fighter » of the DGA and director of the Rafale program. Between 2016 and 2020, he diversified into other types of functions, as deputy director for Africa and the Middle East, then as chief of staff of DGA Joël Barre from 2018 to 2020.

Directorate of plans, programs and budget (DP) – IGA Nicolas Fournier

Nicolas Fournier is in charge of the financial management of the DGA and the various armaments programs. The DP, until now the second pillar of the DGA, must see its role of budget management strengthened at the end of the reform, with a more marked logic of very long-term management. Arriving at the institution in 1998, IGA N. Fournier follows several programs related to electromagnetic signals and their processing. He quickly moved on to more political functions, becoming from 2005 to 2007 the chief of staff of DGA François Lureau, then from 2007 to 2009 the industrial affairs advisor to the Minister of Defense Hervé Morin. He then held very different positions, as head of the radar and electronic warfare division of the DGA, from 2009 to 2012, then as arms attaché at the French embassy in London, from 2012 to 2016. In 2020, he took over head of the General Directorate for Digital and Information and Communication Systems (DGNUM) which must support the various components of the ministry in their digital transformation and ensure coherence.

Technical Director (DT) – IGA Cécile Sellier

The technical department is the foundation on which the other departments rely. She is in charge of the DGA's ten centers of expertise and testing, spread across the country. IGA C. Sellier, in office since 2020, was retained in his position. And since September 2022, she has also been given responsibility for leading the transformation of the DGA. An ambitious mission which should make it possible to formalize and make official the new organization of the DGA, currently being tested, in September 2023. This polytechnician, who worked at the Atomic Energy Commission, has worked in particular on nuclear and biological affairs. and chemicals.

Director of International Development – ​​IGA Gaël Diaz de Tuesta

Gaël Diaz de Tuesta, classmate of the current DO Guilhem Reboul, also arrived in 1999 at the DGA. He did a brief stint on missile performance before joining the Rafale program where he was responsible for qualification to the F2 standard. Between 2010 and 2015, he was seconded to the General Secretariat for Defense and National Security (SGDSN) where he worked on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. He then focused on the international scene by joining the cooperation office with Western Europe, before becoming arms attaché at the French embassy in London in 2016, as successor to his other colleague at the DP Nicolas Fournier. From 2019 to 2022, he was Deputy Director for Western Europe and North America in the International Development Department. In the new model of the DGA, its management should see the logic of cooperation reinforced, to understand international relations, particularly exports, in a more complete way.

Director of the Industrial Affairs and Economic Intelligence Department (SAIIE) – IGA Alexandre Lahousse

Since French President Emmanuel Macron spoke about the war economy, IGA Alexandre Lahousse has provided part of the after-sales service by explaining the ins and outs to the press. A visibility that may have been surprising, as this position is usually discreet. This is particularly because it must evolve in the coming months to become a full-fledged Industry Directorate. On the program: orientation of the BITD, economic security of companies but also monitoring of performance in maintaining operational conditions. Responsible at the start of his career for aeronautical testing, he worked on the NH90 helicopter program, a European cooperation, of which he took charge in 2014. He was the chief of staff of the previous DGA, from 2020 to 2022 and served as administrator on behalf of the State at Safran.

Director of the Defense Innovation Agency – IGA Patrick Aufort (interim)

Placed under the responsibility of the DGA, the Defense Innovation Agency (AID) was created in 2018 to support the different forms of innovation likely to be of interest to the Ministry of the Armed Forces. More flexible in its organization, AID should make it possible to accelerate and support ideas coming from start-up and civilian companies sometimes far from the defense ecosystem. This branch of the DGA is the work of the current DGA, Emmanuel Chiva, who is watching to push his candidate. In the meantime, his former deputy, IGA Patrick Aufort, a pure DGA product having notably followed the AWACS and Atlantique 2 programs, occupies the position on an interim basis.

(Romain Mielcarek)