They are high level engineers and public servants with military status, originating for most of them (more than 2/3 by decree[3]) from Ecole polytechnique[4] and trained at Institut supérieur de l'aéronautique et de l'espace (ISAE) (formation SUPAERO), ENSTA Paris, or other French or international universities.

[5] The second half are employed in other bodies of the Ministry of Defence, in international Defence organizations (NATO, OCCAR,...), can be detached in French administrative bodies (CNES, CEA, ESA,...), or the French and European industry (EADS, Safran, Thales Group, MBDA, DCNS...).

In 1743, the "Ecole des constructeurs de vaisseaux royaux" was created to train Naval engineers.

[10] High tech Colbertism can be characterized by a prevalent role played in France by the Administration and the Grand Corps.

A typical Colbertist mechanism is the "pantouflage" where top civil servants become Heads of French public companies.