France Defence & Security Report Q3 2010: New research report available at Fast Market Research

June 29, 2010 - PRLog -- Although France is meeting the EU's target, with its defence spending staying at 2.3% of GDP, the country and its defence industry is nevertheless facing budgetary restrictions and cuts in the coming months and possibly years. The inflationary costs of defence are highlighted by France's outlay in 2009 of an extra EUR260m to fund urgent operational requirements in overseas missions - twice the amount spent in 2008 and five times more than in 2007.

Proposals for further defence industrial co-operation with the UK to save costs have been put forward but will have to be considered by the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat government. The French clearly want to maintain a degree of independence on all future projects for anti-surface missiles, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), and next-generation military communications satellites. But both governments will have to take into consideration a past record in failing to work together successfully on urgently needed land vehicle programmes for the Afghan theatre - and will therefore face challenges in bringing in greater co-operation. A successful example of pan-European cooperation involving France, however, is the 'European Air Transport Command', which also involves Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands and which will, from 2010, act as a new European command and will thereby save costs while improving air transport.

The A400M military transport aircraft project, however, remains the main cause of uncertainty for the French defence and aerospace industry and the government has had to consider temporary measures. In early April 2010, the DGA (Direction Generale pour l'Armement) indeed decided to order eight CASA CN 235 light transport aircraft worth EUR225mn for the French Air Force, to provide a stopgap until the Airbus A400M is ready for service. Also, the controversy over the bid for a US$35bn contract to replace 179 US refuelling tankers continues, in which EADS (and EU officials) claimed the Pentagon favoured its own aircraft giant, Boeing. EADS plans to bid again as of April 2010.

Elsewhere, security co-operation with Spain to counter and close down the Basque separatist group ETA is yielding positive results, as evidenced by the arrests in France of ETA suspects in January and the group's leader, Ibon Gogeascoetxea Arronategi in February.

Meanwhile, in 2009, France exported US$1,851bn-worth of arms sales - US$20mn more than in 2008. However, imports went up considerably - at US$149mn - compared with only US$7mn in 2008.

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Report Table of Contents:

Executive Summary
SWOT Analysis
- France Security SWOT
- France Defence Industry SWOT
- France Political SWOT
- France Economic SWOT
Global Political Outlook
- United States: Major Tests For Obama In 2010
- Table: Election Timetable, 2010
- Western Europe: Fiscal Austerity Will Be Unpopular
- Central And Eastern Europe: New Governments, Old Problems
- Middle East: Ongoing Challenges
- Africa: The Election Conundrum
- Asia: Broadly Stable, But 'Rogues' Need Vigilance
- Latin America: Political Risks Contained, But Watch Cartels
- Wild Cards To Watch
European Regional Security Overview
Security Risk Analysis
- Defence And Security Ratings
- Table: Europe Security Risk Ratings
- Table: Europe State Terrorism Vulnerability To Terrorism Index
- France's Security Risk Ratings
- City Terrorism Rating
- Table: BMI's Western Europe City Terrorism Index
Political Overview
- Domestic Politics
- Long-Term Political Outlook
Security Overview
- Latest Developments
- Timeline: Internal Threats
- External Security Situation
- Latest Developments
- Timeline: External Security
Armed Forces And Defence Industry
- Armed Forces
- Table: Western European Armed Forces, 2010
- International Deployments
- Table: Principal Deployments of the French Armed Forces:
- Co-ordination And Joint Operations
- Weapons Of Mass Destruction
Market Overview
- Industry Trends And Developments
- Timeline: Defence And Procurement
- Arms Trade Overview
- Table: Key Players In The French Defence Industry
- Procurement Background
Forecast Scenario
- Armed Forces
- Table: French Armed Forces, 2007-2014 ('000 personnel)
- Table: Western European Armed Forces, 2010
- Government Expenditure
- Table: Government Expenditure On Defence Industry, 2007-2014
- Macroeconomic Forecast
- Table: France - Economic Activity, 2007-2014
Company Profiles
- Dassault Aviation
- DCNS
- EADS
- Thales
Country Snapshot: France Demographic Data
- Section 1: Population
- Table: Demographic Indicators, 2005-2030
- Table: Rural/Urban Breakdown, 2005-2030
- Section 2: Education And Healthcare
- Table: Education, 2002-2005
- Table: Vital Statistics, 2005-2030
- Section 3: Labour Market And Spending Power
- Table: Employment Indicators, 2000-2005
- Table: Consumer Expenditure, 2000-2012 (US$)
- Table: Average Annual Wages, 2000-2012
BMI Methodology
- How We Generate Our Industry Forecasts
- Defence Industry
- City Terrorism Rating
- Table: Methodology
- Sources

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