Patrick Auroy

He graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique (1975), the ENSAE (French Aeronautics and Space Academy 1980), and the EPNER (French Flight Test Crew Academy, 1981), and was given responsibility for certification testing at the DGA Flight Test Centre (CEV) in Brétigny – the operational authority in charge of military qualification and civil certification of aircraft, helicopters and airborne systems (1981 to 1985). Following his appointment as Head of the Helicopter Test Branch, he completed the restructuring and merging of helicopter activities in Istres (1986).

In 1988 he took over the technical management of the Franco-German Tiger Helicopter Programme at the DGA Directorate for Aeronautics in Paris.

From 1989 to 1992 he was Technical Deputy Director of the DGA Flight Test Centre in Istres.

In 1992 he was appointed as Technical Adviser (Aeronautics and International Affairs) to the Head of the DGA. In addition, in 1993 and 1994 he was a rapporteur in the Commission in charge of the White Paper on Defence and then in the Mission for State Reform (economic sector).

He was Head of the Flight Test Centre in Istres from 1994 to 1998.

In September 1999, he became Air Warfare Force System Architect at the DGA, dealing in particular with strategic studies in air and missile defence. From 1999 to 2003 he was the French representative in the NATO Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) Missile Defence Project Group (MDPG).

In 2002 he was appointed as Deputy Director of the Force System Architecture Department.  In August 2004 he was promoted to the post of DGA Director for Force Systems and Trend Analysis and became a member of the DGA Executive Committee. In 2005, he was appointed as Director for Force Systems and Strategies, responsible, in the armaments field, for preparing future systems, research and technology policy, international cooperation, in particular through NATO and the EU, and industrial issues.

During this period he supervised for the DGA the preparation and implementation works related to the French return to the NATO integrated command structure and those related to the French Presidency of the European Union. He was also involved in the 2008 White Paper on Defence and National Security.

He was deeply involved in the reform the DGA, and was promoted to the post of Deputy Director General on 9 October 2009.  He held that post until his appointment as NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment on 4 October 2010. The NATO International Staff Defence Investment Division monitors and facilitates the delivery of military capabilities and prepares to that effect the relevant North Atlantic Council and subordinated bodies decisions or directives.

Patrick Auroy studied at the Centre for Higher Armament Studies (CHEAr, 32^nd session, 1995/1996),  the Centre for Higher Military Studies (CHEM, 48^th session, 1998/1999) and the Institute of Higher Studies for National Defence (IHEDN, 51^st session, 1998/1999). He is a Commander of the National Order of Merit, an Officer of the Legion of Honour and a holder of the Aeronautical Medal.