France will about halve its purchases of Dassault Rafale jet fighter planes over the subsequent six years, under defence estimates on Friday, and is looking on eventually clinching the primary sales abroad to maintain production lines going.
French officials say that among potential clients are India, Qatar, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Brazil.
The government, struggling to curb public spending, also made clear that there’ll be no change to the French independent nuclear deterrent which successive governments have treated as a very important issue of national defence.
Dassault Aviation, which builds the Rafale fighters, used to high-profile effect in fighting in Libya and Mali, was to offer 11 planes a year to the French defence forces.
This was intended to be sure a necessary minimum amount of labor for production lines while France tries to reach the primary sales of the aircraft abroad.
But the federal government, that’s struggling to fulfill commitments to the eu Union and to retain investor confidence by getting its public deficit under control, is crimping public expenditure including spending on defence.
Under the draft defence estimates put before the cupboard on Friday, the left-wing government will acquire only 26 of the planes in the course of the next six years.
Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had said on June 11, that from 2016 Dassault Aviation must anticipate exports to underpin production of the plane which can fulfill various kinds of mission.
On Friday, the minister said on Europe 1 radio: “There are countries which today are really focused on buying the Rafale, i’m thinking particularly of India, Qatar, of different countries, and i’m very confident of the possibilities of exporting the Rafale in coming months.”
France have been in exclusive negotiations to sell 126 Rafale planes to India “and I actually have high hopes that it will succeed,” he said.
Sources near the minister said that the estimates were based partly on a hypothesis that no less than one country among other potential buyers would place an order before the tip of 2019.
These countries are Malaysia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Brazil.
An adviser to the minister said that the federal government was not changing its overall order for 180 Rafale planes, of which a complete of 120 may have been delivered in the following couple of months, and it might place another slice of orders.
During the period covered by the estimates, Dassault would receive hundreds of millions of euros to design a pilotless combat drone by 2030 in cooperation with British aerospace group BAE Systems, and likewise to develop the Rafale to fulfill new standards, under a programme called F3-R.
The ministry’s objective is to underpin nine big defence industry activities, starting from aerospace to communications and submarines. With a view to accomplish that, orders are being stretched out through the years.
Le Drian, in separate remarks to broadcaster France 2, said that there will be no changes to the French nuclear deterrence capability.
The two components of the French independent deterrence, according to submarines and airborne, will be maintained.
‘Ultimate’ nuclear deterrence
“The President of the Republic (Francois Hollande) has decided to preserve both components and they’re going to be maintained,” he said.
The minister said that they were “indispensable since the second component (airborne) provides agility, the capacity for rapid reaction in a global where proliferation (of nuclear capability) is constant and through which France must keep this ultimate security, this fundamental guarantee that is deterrence.”
The minister criticised the defence minister within the previous right-wing government, Herve Morin, for suggesting that among the many two components will be axed to save cash.
However, Morin repeated his criticism in an announcement on Friday, saying that the govt was “fooling the defence forces and French people who France continues to be probably the most four global military forces on the earth when in truth it now not has the means, unfortunately.”
Last week Dassault Aviation reported a 20.0-percent fall in net profit for the primary half the year but held to its target for raising sales inside the whole of 2013.
Net profit for the primary half amounted to at least one65 million euros ($218 million). Sales fell by 5.0 percent from the equivalent figure last year to one.82 billion euros.
Orders taken amounted to 1.41 billion euros, little changed from a figure of one.42 billion euros inside the first 1/2 2012.