This year, the French should be able to have a good year.
According to Reuters, UAE officials said on December 14 that the UAE had just ordered 80 Rafale fighter jets from France's Dassault company, and the government has now notified the United States to suspend negotiations with Lockheed Martin to buy 50 new-generation F-35 stealth fighters. Some people say that France, which was engulfed by the United States in the "submarine dispute," finally repaid the "one-arrow revenge" at the end of the year.
French President Emmanuel Macron, right, meets with visiting U.S. Vice President Harris at the Elysee Palace in Paris on November 10. (Source: Xinhua News Agency)
France and the United States have been constantly fighting in the arms export business, and it is difficult to win or lose
An unnamed EMI official said that "technical requirements, operational sovereignty restrictions [imposed by the U.S.] and an analysis of the cost-benefit ratio have led the UAE to reassess the options for ordering fighter jets [from Lockheed Martin]." However, another UAE defense ministry official told Reuters that the purchase of French Dassault's Rafale fighter jets was a complement to the F-35, not to replace the U.S. aircraft.
Even so, this is not the first time France has gained the upper hand in the recent arms trade competition between France and the United States.
Just last week, the U.S. Department of State announced on December 10, local time, that it had approved the sale of four frigates to Greece. It has been argued that this means that the United States is challenging France to compete: 10 weeks ago, France had announced a similar arms sale agreement with Greece for about 3 billion euros.
However, shortly after the United States announced this news, the French Ministry of Defense and the Greek government gave further explanations and confirmed to the outside world that Greece would buy 3 frigates from France.
It is reasonable to say that people should have long been accustomed to the vicissitudes of the business field. However, because of the "submarine dispute" in September this year, the competition between France and the United States in the arms business was talked about.
Anyone who pays attention to France knows that the "submarine dispute" really makes France angry. Not only did the United States, Britain and Australia forge a new trilateral security partnership behind France's back, but the Australian government also suspended its previous contract with the French Naval Group for the purchase of 12 submarines. That is to say, the armament business of France and Australia was cut off by the United States, and France lost about $66 billion. Since then, the competition between France and the United States on arms orders has attracted more and more attention.
Shortly after the Submarine Dispute, Switzerland announced the cancellation of a $6 billion order for French Rafale fighter jets and instead purchased F35 fighter jets from the American company Lo Ma.
As soon as the news came out, many people believed that France was robbed of two consecutive arms orders by the United States within a week, and France would cancel the trip of French President Macron to visit Switzerland scheduled for November. To this end, the Elysee Palace and the office of the President of the Swiss Federal Council, Guy Palmland, have come forward to refute it. The Elysee Palace said that "this meeting was never cancelled", especially because it was impossible for reasons given by the media.
In a few months, the entanglement between France and the United States in the arms business has become very colorful. While paying attention, people can't help but sigh that France is really enthusiastic about the arms business!
Greek Defense Minister Panayotopoulos (left) and visiting French Defense Minister Pali. (Source: Xinhua News Agency)
Arms exports: another glory for France?
Why, then, is France so obsessed with the arms export business?
In this regard, Associate Professor Kong Gang, an expert in the study of EU issues at the School of International Relations of the National University of Defense Technology, believes that this is not unrelated to France's regard of independent armaments as an "honor".
France advocates glory and independence, which is also deeply reflected in the field of defense industry. Beginning with President de Gaulle in the 1960s, Successive French leaders have maintained an independent defense industry base, which is independent of American technology and can develop and produce all major weapons systems.
This is because France has had a pain in the skin. In the 1950s, the United States blocked nuclear weapons technology against France, preventing it from becoming a nuclear power, and dealing a serious blow to France's comprehensive national strength. Moreover, the "information technology access review" mechanism pursued by the United States can easily lead to export restrictions and political controls. France is therefore committed to becoming the only European military-industrial power capable of independently developing and producing fighter jets, main battle tanks, nuclear submarines, missiles and nuclear warheads, aircraft carriers and surface warships.
It is precisely because of France's unremitting persistence that French weapons can be technologically independent and self-contained, favored by many arms importing countries, and have become a business card of France.
French Rafale fighter. (Source: Visual China)
Internal factors: high quality products, positive sales
In addition to the glory of being "unique", French weapons sell well and have a vast market, thanks to two important factors. On the one hand, the Design Concept of French weapons is advanced, the combat performance is excellent and the cost performance is high. Most French weapons are multi-functional, with the famous Mirage fighter, for example, capable of performing a full range of missions such as aerial combat, ground attack, and battlefield reconnaissance. The advanced design concept of the French military industry has reduced the cost and price, and the high quality and low price of armament products have made it have a strong comparative advantage in the fiercely competitive international arms market.
On the other hand, the French government's arms sales policy is proactive, flexible and stable, and the arms sales contracts with importing countries are less disturbed by other factors, which is an important reason for helping France to achieve good results in arms exports. During a visit to Qatar, french President François Hollande personally stood for Dassault and helped it win a $7 billion Rafale deal.
External cause: Allies are unreliable
In addition, after Trump took office, the ally government held high the "America First" and constantly put pressure on European allies in the military field, and EU member states have increasingly strengthened cooperation in the defense field. As the two major countries of the European Union, France and Germany are actively promoting the convergence and coordination of their arms sales policies. In the latest Treaty of Aachen, the two countries have also made efforts in this regard, trying to "forge a common path for arms exports".
In this light, it is not difficult to understand that France has insisted on selling all kinds of weapons to various parts of the world this year. However, France and Germany still face many obstacles in coordinating arms exports, and how to take more into account the feelings of European partners while advocating its own glory may become a topic for France in the future.
(Editor: Li Jingtong)