Created in 1972, DCI is an intermediate sized service company, in which the French government is the concurring shareholder. As an operator in the transfer of Ministry of Defense know-how, DCI proposes services, to foreign countries, based on a capability approach.

This approach consists in providing an operational capability and not merely accompanying equipment sales. Within this scope, the core of its activity concerns training engineering, in the academic, operational and technical fields, but DCI also proposes requirement definition, maintenance or support services.