Paris: France is tapping retired defence-industry workers to create what it calls a “defence industrial reserve,” a pool of experienced labour that can help ramp up production of weapons and armament in times of need.
French armament agency DGA signed contracts with armoured-vehicle makers KNDS and Arquus to join the program, which seeks to ensure retiring industry veterans can pass on rare skills to new hires, and head off a potential shortage of skilled labour should the country find itself at war. The idea behind the reserve is to create a pool of skilled experts, from welders to model makers or engineers, that can be activated to train others or help boost production at their former employer or others.
Signing a contract on this, DGA head Emmanuel Chiva said the principle is to prepare France for a return of high-intensity warfare. “We’re not at war, but on the other hand we must not be naive,” Chiva said. “We’re preparing for a rise in strength, if only for the sake of our credibility, and so today we’re going to look for the skills where we can find them,” he added.
After decades in which manufacturing has been shrinking as a share of the French economy, the country’s industry faces difficulties finding skilled labour. Nearly 1 million industrial workers are set to retire by 2030, according to a government report published last year.
Chiva said the automobile industry is another area that could be a source of skilled labour for French defence firms, and the DGA is already working with car maker Renault on the issue. “We’re in the process of identifying pools of labour in civil industries,” Chiva said. “So I’m talking about Renault, but there are others which will enable us to fill this industrial reserve.”
The plan is “quite innovative,” and it piggybacks on France’s larger goal of doubling the number of defence reservists as part of the 2024-2030 military programming law, said Army Chief of Staff General Pierre Schill.
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