Is France Training Enough Engineers for Its Defense?

French rearmament is hitting a skills shortage that the education system is struggling to fill

When Hervé Guillou talks about recruiting welders at Naval Group, his tone turns bitter. "Four out of five trainees don't even have the required level," laments the former head of the naval shipbuilder. This observation alone sums up the French paradox. While the 2024-2030 Military Planning Law unlocks €413 billion to revive the arms industry, the training system cannot keep pace. The budgets are there, the order books are filling up, but the hands and brains are missing.

The French defense industrial and technological base today counts approximately 210,000 jobs. It must recruit 10,000 more immediately. Yet, according to analyses by the Mentivis consultancy, the shortfall could reach 30,000 posts in the most pessimistic scenarios by 2030. The profiles sought range from highly qualified workers to cybersecurity specialists, including embedded systems engineers. Approximately 19% of postings concern industrial engineering, 12% IT. But it is the specialized manual trades — boilermakers, welders, fitters — that pose the biggest problems.

The French training system, despite its reputation for excellence, proves poorly dimensioned. The grandes écoles under the supervision of the Direction générale de l'armement — Polytechnique, ISAE-SUPAERO, ENSTA Paris — do rank in the national top 10. But their numbers remain tightly limited by numerus clausus that no longer correspond to industry needs. These institutions maintain drastic selectivity while demand explodes. The result is predictable. Manufacturers must turn to other pools, often insufficiently trained.

Apprenticeship is a real problem; we are very far behind in France, admits Hervé Guillou, former head of Naval Group

Vocational training does not fill the gap. Industrial apprenticeship has collapsed in France over recent decades. "Apprenticeship is a real problem; we are very far behind in France," admits Hervé Guillou. Naval Group has tried to remedy this by creating its own Naval Industries Campus to align training supply with its real needs. Other groups are following the same path. Safran is betting heavily on work-study programs, which it considers "a real springboard for the future." But these initiatives remain piecemeal. They struggle to compensate for decades of deindustrialization and disaffection for manual trades.

The problem is not limited to volume. It also concerns the rapid obsolescence of skills. According to Mentivis, 82% of executives believe their expertise will be radically transformed within five years, notably with the rise of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and hypersonic technologies. Yet only 12% of the workforce benefits from structured continuing training. Large companies have internal universities, but the SMEs and mid-caps that form the bulk of the subcontracting chain have neither the time nor the means to immobilize their employees for long training sessions.

Geography aggravates the tensions. The three key regions — Île-de-France, Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine — concentrate 70% of job postings. In Toulouse, the historic aeronautics basin, production trades are overheating. Salaries are climbing, creating inflation harmful to second- and third-tier subcontractors. In Île-de-France, the cost of living deters young graduates and technicians. Elsewhere, isolated sites struggle to attract talent for lack of a dynamic ecosystem.

Faced with this crisis, the State and manufacturers are multiplying initiatives. The DGA has created a defense industrial reserve aiming to mobilize 3,000 qualified professionals as reinforcements. The Ministry of the Armed Forces has partnered with France Travail to organize regional recruitment forums. But these efforts remain modest. A national e-forum organized in early 2024 retained only 16% of applications, a sign that companies must relax their criteria or that the pool remains dramatically insufficient.

Some propose more radical solutions. The Mentivis consultancy is calling for an educational battle plan modeled on armament programs. It recommends creating thematic academies on the model of the Defense Space Academy launched in 2023 by ISAE-SUPAERO. Three new campuses should see the light of day, dedicated to combat systems, operational cybersecurity and strategic materials. These structures would offer degree pathways from CAP to doctorate, with half the time spent in companies.

The firm also proposes increasing the numbers of DGA-supervised schools by 30% by 2027 and creating short curricula — three-year Defense Bachelors — to train senior technicians. The idea is to create a "secure recruitment tunnel" from high school, with scholarships in exchange for a five-year commitment to industry. The work-study rate should rise to 50% of new entrants.

Another talent reservoir remains largely untapped. Every year, thousands of service members leave active duty. Young, disciplined, trained in operational rigor, they possess valuable skills. Yet their conversion to industry remains artisanal. Civilian recruiters struggle to translate military know-how into industrial competencies. Mentivis proposes industrializing the process with a "Defense-Industry Gateway" device that would automatically certify military skills. The goal would be to reach 5,000 conversions per year by 2027, compared to fewer than 1,500 currently.

The question of financing remains. Bpifrance unlocked €450 million in March 2025 to support the defense industry. The European Union mobilized €175 million via its Defence Equity Facility. But these amounts are deemed insufficient. Mentivis proposes a "France Defense 2030" fund of two billion euros dedicated to human capital. This would, according to the firm, treat training as an armament program, with a multi-year budget and interministerial governance.

Time is running out. Without a deep overhaul of the training system, the objectives of the Military Planning Law will remain theoretical. Olivier Andriès, head of Safran, put it bluntly. "Production today is limited by the labor shortage." Money is not enough. We need skilled hands and well-trained minds. And that, no budget can buy off the shelf.

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A strategic influence contribution on the rearmament of French defense human capital. Uncompromising diagnosis, downgrade risks, and an operational plan to train, convert and retain critical skills between 2026 and 2030.

Analysis of BITD HR shortages, failure of current responses, national skills doctrine, actionable roadmap, governance, financing and prospective scenarios. A strategic analysis on the skills shortage, training and industrial sovereignty at the heart of French rearmament.

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