A overshadow the sale of Rafale in Egypt or Qatar: France, and with it all its military shipbuilding industry, is on course to win one of its most important, if n ‘ is “the” most important export arms deal since 1945. Malcolm Turnbull, the Australian Prime Minister, Francois Hollande called on the night of Monday to Tuesday to announce that his country had accepted the offer of DCNS for the construction of 12 offshore subsea face to those of the German TKMS and the Japanese consortium of Mitsubishi and Kawasaki.
Maintenance, infrastructure and training included, the transaction is valued at 50 billion Australian dollars, or 34 billion euros, for a commissioning from 2027. According to Reuters, DCNS’s share is around eight billion euros.
“the evaluation committee concluded unequivocally that the French offer was better able to meet the needs of Australia, “said the Prime Minister, highlighting the 2,800 jobs that will be created in Adelaide with the contract. The accuracy becomes very important because the economic benefits associated with the contract constituted a subject of political debate in Australia in recent months.
Thousands of jobs created France
in a statement, the Elysée has highlighted the “historic” nature of the selection of Australia and the duration of the partnership that will link the two countries. “This new success will create jobs and development in France and Australia,” added the President of the Republic, stating that Jean-Yves Le Drian was going to go fast there.
Guest of Europe 1 this morning, the french Minister of Defence welcomed the” great victory for the french naval industry “, recalling” the long habit of cooperation with Australia. ” “It will be thousands of jobs in France, contracts of very long duration (…) We got ‘married’ with Australia for 50 years,” he said.
the president is expected to 4:15 p.m. at the headquarters of DCNS, where he will deliver a speech in the presence including CEO Hervé Guillou group.
DCNS is optimistic
After the call of offers comes time for negotiations. “Everything remains to be negotiated,” said Marie-Pierre Bailliencourt, the Deputy Chief of the manufacturer. . “We proposed a partnership including an Australian industrial plan and transfer technology.”
She said not to be concerned about the impact on the continuing negotiations of elections in Australia scheduled for July. “What saved us is a very good relationship with our customer with whom we had a healthy and permanent dialogue,” she added, also highlighting the technical superiority and the fact that France is a sovereign state.
the choice of Lockheed Martin or Raytheon fellow for arming the submarines has “no stake” for DCNS.
to win, DCNS, and Thales partner and its shareholder (which manufactures sonar particular), has relied on a conventionally powered version of the Barracuda, the new generation of nuclear submarines of attack of the navy during delivery. In addition to its ability to navigate over long distances, a point has probably made the difference: discretion, France having apparently agreed to transfer its stealth technology, almost unique. The high level of political lobbying also counted including the visit by François Hollande last year, with a stop notice in the local subsidiary of Thales.
DCNS , who had to initiate a restructuring having too diversified in civil nuclear in particular, is not in its first export success. The French naval defense champion sold its conventional Scorpene submarines to India, Malaysia and Brazil. But this is the first time he garners success for the Barracuda derivative. The program has experienced some setbacks in France, not technical but organizational order, which sealed the accounts of the French group in 2014.
Chinese Threat
Very linked to economic China, Australia sees with concern however, as all its neighbors Beijing push his pawns in different islands in the area, enhancing the risk of skirmishes, even conflict, in an area where the majority transit trade flows in the world. In this context, Canberra has decided to replace its old Collins class submarines for equal weapon with its neighbor to the north.
“We need submarines capable of evolving very far. We need the ability to remain undetected for long periods, we need to silent submarine with advanced radar technology to detect other submarines, “said the defense minister, Marise Payne.
disappointment in Germany and Japan
in TKMS disappointment may be huge as the tendering of submarines are rare. The German manufacturer, which argues the open market submarines with DCNS has proposed an extended version of a ship that are at this stage only in draft form. Moreover, it could not rely, Australia, on strong political support: although with sizeable arms industry, Germany is always very reserved vis-à-vis these issues of fear of offending public opinion.
But it was in Japan that the announcement of the French victory threw more cold at the top of the state. Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister had personally invested in winning this contract, he initially believed time to take no real tender. Cultivating his complicity with former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, removed from power last September by the current head of government, the Japanese leader had seen in the sale of such submarines soryu celebration of great strategic alliance Tokyo and Canberra in the Asia-Pacific region increasingly worried brutal territorial claims Beijing.
Tokyo was also convinced that their great American ally was going behind the scenes to push Australia to opt for Japanese submarines fitted with US systems in order to provide a high degree of interoperability between the buildings of the three armies.
Fear to rob Beijing
In recent weeks, US and Australian statements suggesting that the choice would forward all on more than on strategic aspects technical considerations had panicked and pushed Tokyo Japanese lobbyists has increased efforts. Sumio Kusaka, the Japanese Ambassador, had even taken personally pen to answer one by one to the criticism of the Japanese offer appeared in the Australian media.
In response, in the morning, the announcement of the French victory, the MHI conglomerate said it was “deeply regrettable that Japanese skills were not sufficiently communicated “. In Tokyo, sources close to the Japanese candidature explain that Australia would eventually shine too afraid to Beijing directly by offering Japan a contract of such strategic and financial scope, which would have boosted the international arena capacity of a Japanese military industry that Shinzo Abe seeks to awaken. Other foreign commentators, however, ensure that the reluctance of some senior Japanese government to accept large transfers of technology and significant work of relocations in Australia have annoyed makers Canberra.
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