Gicat

GICAT, a professional group, created in 1978, has over 200 subscribers, representing some 330 members, corporations, mid-market companies and SMEs. These members cover a wide range of industrial, research, service and consulting activities for military and civil organizations, of national or international scope, involved in land and/or air-land security and/or defense.

Objectives

GICAT represents the interests of French land and air-land defense and security industrial players based on four objectives:

- Organizing dialog between the institutional and industrial players of the sector
- Offering services to its members to encourage their development in France and abroad
- Creating an environment favorable to exchange between industrial players
- Developing the industrial expertise and image of the sector

The international ambitions of GICAT are reflected in its international exhibitions, EUROSATORY in France, APHS in Singapore, Expodefensa in Colombia and ShieldAfrica in Ivory Coast, organized by its subsidiary, COGES, and a certain number of other defense and/or security exhibitions overseas.

Organization

The Board of Directors comprises elected representatives from 21 member companies and ex-officio members. It decides the strategic directions of the Group. The Chairman of GICAT, elected by the Board of Directors for a two-year term of office, represents the Group in all areas of its social affairs.

GICAT Chairman: Mr. Stéphane Mayer (Nexter Systems).

Six Vice-chairmen:

M. Patrick Oswald (Airbus Group)
M. Jérôme Diacre (Elno)
M. Luc Renouil (Cnim-Bertin)
M. Martin Sion (Safran)
M. Guillaume Giscard d'Estaing (Sofema)
M. Jean-Michel Largarde (Thales)

The General Delegation of GICAT ensures operational implementation of the strategic directions, via specialized work groups or commissions.

With 7 permanent members, the General Delegation of GICAT runs a number of work groups and commissions, open to its members and partners, to nourish discussions concerning the strategic sectors of the industry. These meetings, a true source of proposals; produce recommendations and enable organization of the Group's various actions and services.

GICAT has 6 active commissions:

The SME defense commission supports and promotes defense SMEs and mid-market companies in France and internationally. Its objectives include:

- To develop access to information for group members by organizing conferences and theme days

- To develop inter-company relationships, particularly between corporations and SME/mid-market companies

- To facilitate the export business by implementing specific services (export control support, etc.)

Chairman of the SME commission: Jérôme DIACRE (ELNO).

The R&T commission is responsible for foresight and preparation of the future. Its work involves:

- Formulation of proposals for upstream studies for the land defense industry

- Promotion of R&T development, in collaboration with the army and the DGA (French procurement and technology agency for the defense ministry)

Chairman of the R&T commission: Emmanuel CHIVA (AGUERIS).

The Support transformation commission was created to assist the army and SIMMT (the army's internal maintenance, repair and operations unit) with the transformation of maintenance, repair and operations measures and the industrial maintenance chain (SMITer). It is a source of proposals for the new, stronger State-industry partnerships and the resulting contracts, optimization of spare parts logistics and management training.

Chairman of the Support transformation commission: Thierry Veisemberger (Airbus)

The Security commission develops GICAT in the security sector and promotes the interests of the profession in this area. It draws up and implements an action plan to structure:

- The industrial security offer of GICAT members (capacity brochures)

- Information and dialog with institutional and private sector players in the field of security
- Export actions

- Discussion and coordination with CICS (trust and security industry council)

Chairman of the Security commission: Luc RENOUIL (CNIM / Bertin Technologies).

The International affairs commission promotes the international representation of the French industry. Its missions include:
Providing services to members in terms of export support and control
Supporting the exhibition policy and assisting exhibitors abroad with the provision of specific services
Formalizing dialog with the diplomatic network in France and abroad
Forming the link with the European Union and NATO, via industrial associations and representations

Chairman of the International affairs commission: Marc-Henri FIGUIER (ATOS).

The Communication commission promotes the defense and security industries. It ensures the following:
Definition and implementation of the Group's communication and lobbying strategy
Sharing good practices between industrial members of the land sector
Promoting the image and particularities of the sector

Chairman of the Communication commission: Laetitia BLANDIN (NEXTER).
Representing the defense industry

GICAT is a founder member of CIDEF (the defense industry council).

CIDEF was created in 1990 by professional organizations representing the various elements of the French armament industry. It acts as a spokesperson for its professional member organizations in the defense sector. It decides and implements joint actions to represent and promote all French defense industries. It may also represent French defense industries in international organizations.