Director of the Defence Innovation Agency
On 1 September 2018, he was appointed by Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly as director of the Defence Innovation Agency (AID), which he was tasked with establishing in order to conduct strategic foresight activities. Parly described him at the time as “the right man for the job: he knows defence, he knows business, he knows innovation, and he has an inexhaustible drive to undertake.”
As the first director of the AID, described as an “institutional innovation,” he set up the agency as a “one-stop shop” for innovation within the Ministry of the Armed Forces, structuring relations between the armed forces, the DGA and the wider innovation ecosystem.
With an initial budget of €720 million, which exceeded €1 billion by 2022, the agency became an interface for identifying “hidden gems,” selecting and supporting innovation projects from both civilian and military sources, in fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, hypersonics and neuroscience.
Red Team Défense
Under the impetus of Emmanuel Chiva, the Defence Innovation Agency launched the Red Team Défense in 2019, an unprecedented strategic foresight initiative. Inspired by science fiction, it brought together writers, screenwriters, researchers and military experts to imagine future threats in the 2030–2060 horizon. Its aim was to confront the French armed forces with radical scenarios — technological disruptions, hybrid warfare or societal upheavals — in order to inform strategic thinking and capability choices. Conceived as a “writers’ room” integrated into the Ministry of the Armed Forces’ reflection, the Red Team produced three seasons of exploratory scenarios, some of which were published. Presented as a world first in the field of defence, it illustrated cooperation between military, scientific and cultural communities.
Since 2024, the “RADAR” programme has succeeded the Red Team Défense, bringing together actors from diverse backgrounds to anticipate threats and develop appropriate responses.
Delegate General for Armaments
On 22 July 2022, he was appointed by the Council of Ministers as Délégué général pour l’armement (Delegate General for Armaments), effective 1 August 2022
At the head of an administration of more than 10,000 people, half of them engineers, he is responsible for coordinating, in conjunction with the armed forces, all French armament programmes — including nuclear — in order to support and guide the Defence Industrial and Technological Base (BITD).
In the context of modern geostrategic constraints, and in particular Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, he has been one of the main actors in implementing the “war economy” advocated by the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron.
In this capacity, while supporting innovation and French technological sovereignty, he has worked to accelerate production rates, particularly for munitions and key equipment, and to reduce delays in armament processes. He has initiated efforts to simplify technical specifications, rationalize costs, strengthen subcontracting with SMEs and mid-sized companies, and develop public-private partnerships to reinforce industrial responsiveness and resilience.
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