Paris – While fielding advanced military technology is crucial, the French Army has seen the high cost of equipment acquisition and ownership erode the training budget of the land force, according to Army Gen. Charles Beaudouin, head of the technology department for the service.
"Technological superiority is a major element for the services," but spending on equipment has led to fewer trained soldiers, which has operational consequences, he said June 9 at an industry conference here sponsored by the think tank Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique.
Equipment such as the Airbus Helicopter NH90 transport helicopter -- which requires 22 hours of maintenance hours for one flight hour -- Scalp cruise missiles, and MBDA MMP medium-range missiles are costly, he said. Platforms are "extremely expensive," he added.
"Availability is very important for all our clients, particularly France," said Guillaume Steuer, head of Airbus Helicopter external communications. The company last year opened the Military Support Center France at Marignane to boost service for the French forces.
A planned information and communication system developed under the Scorpion program (SICS) will be "extremely complicated," and there is no guarantee the network will be fully interoperable, Beaudouin said. Sometimes it is good to "put on the brakes" to avoid an excess of technology, and it is important to reduce risk in the equipment, he added.
Direction Générale de l'Armement seeks to support the defense industrial and technology base and strike an optimum balance between military needs and financial capability, Vincent Imbert, deputy chief executive of the procurement office, said in closing remarks.
SICS is an Atos battle management system to be installed in the planned Jaguar multirole troop transport and Griffon combat vehicle. Data will be carried over the Thales Contact software-defined radio network, which will replace five radio networks and link a brigade commander to troops on the ground.
