French arms sales are doing well. A study by the Department of Defense conducted jointly with the Council of Defence Industries (CIDEF) and McKinsey, exports reached 6.87 billion euros last year, up 42.7%.
Contracts over € 200 million increased from three to eight in the space of a year, while those below 200 million were increases of 20%, to 4.05 billion. Saudi Arabia is the largest customer of France to Brazil.
The health of this sector has reduced the trade deficit of France several points, and supports 40,000 employees, including about 14,000 direct jobs and 13,500 indirect in first-tier suppliers. Added to this is between 11 and 13,000 induced jobs. In total, these employees represent a quarter of all jobs in the defense.
Seven major basins advantage of this situation, the Ile de France, PACA, Brittany, Aquitaine, Midi-Pyrénées, and Central and Rhône-Alpes. The study shows that military technologies Thales, Safran, Airbus and DCNS, could also have civilian spin-offs: carbon brakes for airliners, electronic toll collection systems on highways, flight controls for aircraft Falcon …
In the current year, the ministry expects a further increase in sales despite, for now, the suspension of the delivery of the first ship Mistral to Russia. The possibility of signing a contract with India for an order of Rafale, or purchasing a system of long-range missiles from Turkey, could greatly help.
In response to the rise of new competitors like South Korea or China, France believes it has an advantage in being present on operational grounds unlike these newcomers. Jean-Yves Le Drian, the defense minister, did not hesitate to increase the movement in recent months, particularly in Qatar and Poland, to help industry players to find new uncorked.
In times of government cutbacks, defense industries have little choice. They need to expand internationally.
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