France’s Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) has launched a 10-year framework tender for the procurement of 10,000 MI-AC PR pressure-sensitive anti-tank mines and 12,000 inert training dummies. The most critical condition of the tender is that all stages of production—including design, component manufacturing, and final assembly—must take place entirely within the European Union. Bids will be accepted until September 15, 2025.
The acquisition process is being managed by the DGA’s Land Techniques department and includes an initial confirmed order of 3,000 live mines and 2,500 training dummies. Additionally, 7,000 live mines and 9,500 training dummies are listed as optional quantities. Each mine must be manually deployable, contain at least six kilograms of TNT-based explosives, and be capable of neutralizing vehicles protected to STANAG 4569 Level 2 standards. The design excludes advanced sensors or electronics; instead, passive systems suitable for long-term storage and area denial are favored. The training dummies are intended to support a full sapper training cycle, including realistic emplacement exercises and mechanized mine-laying procedures.
The requirement for production strictly within the EU reflects France’s ongoing efforts to build strategic autonomy in defense. This approach aims to reduce dependency in the face of global supply chain vulnerabilities, embargo risks, and component shortages revealed during recent European crises.
Potential suppliers include firms with qualified production capacities within the EU such as TDW (Rheinmetall), Nexter Arrowtech, EXPAL, Forcit Defence, and Nammo. The French Ministry of Armed Forces views the initial order as a “core batch” and has indicated that production speed could be increased under the “war economy” model implemented in 2024.
