Var Matin: Florence Parly, Minister for Armed forces visits a "world's champion"

Published on Var Matin, September 2017

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Written by Lylian Casier

Photo courtesy of Var Matin

As part of her visit to the Fifteenth Université de la Défense in Toulon, Florence Parly, Minister of the Armed Forces, visited the headquarters of ECA group, an industrial center specializing in robotic construction (drones, mine destroyers, simulators).

Arrival at 2 pm, the Minister attended, with various elected representatives and the prefect of the Var, Jean-Luc Videlaine, a digital presentation of the high-tech activities.

Drones are the future

Guénaël Guillaume, Chief Executive Officer of the group, has mainly focused his speech on the development of drones, whether for civil or military applications. "The development of systems of drones is where ECA group invests the most, because it is the future," he said.

The entire ministerial delegation that accompanied the minister was directly sensitized to the feats carried out by the employees of the company. Multiple engineers have presented technology jewelry that equips the largest armies in the world (France, India, etc.).

Starting with the K-STER - a mine-clearing system whose ancestor, the PAP (Self-Propelled Fish), is still used by the French Navy - which destroys the mines by emitting a powerful shock wave.

Fluidify relationships

The tenant of the Brienne hotel then had the opportunity to briefly pilot Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) dedicated to demining, using a remote control. "I came to touch the added value that is yours," Mrs. Parly told employees in a conference room a few minutes before the end of her visit,

and I realized your agility and your strong ability to innovate (...) It is a company of excellence, a world champion, and I wanted to realize it.

The minister also spoke about the future relations between the Var region industrial  and Defense, which she intends "to fluidify and intensify", in the years to come. A wish that ECA group has welcomed with great enthusiasm: the industrial cluster, which generates more than 50% of its export turnover, would like to strengthen its exchanges and its partnership with the French army.

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