2023-07-25 16:28:00
Even the Ministry of the Armed Forces is a little in shock… “In 2022, the amount of orders taken by French export companies reached a figure hitherto unequaled: 27 billion euros”, he writes in the 2023 report to Parliament on France’s 2022 arms exports, of which La Tribune has obtained a copy. More precisely 26.97 billion euros of weapons systems exported in 2022 by France. Far, very far from the previous record of 2015 (16.9 billion euros) Why this astronomical amount? Obviously the contract of the century with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) counts for a lot in this record record for around 16 billion euros. In total, the UAE bought 16.9 billion euros from French industrialists in 2022. That is more than 60% of total French exports.
Signed in December 2021 and entered into force in 2022, this contract for the acquisition of 80 Rafale combat aircraft of the F4 standard, accompanied by a contract relating to armament,
East “historic and exceptional”, the ministry said. This contract also testifies to the very strong recognition of the operational qualities of the Rafale, he noted. Thus, the firm order of six Rafale by Indonesia (out of 42 ordered) and six other aircraft by Greece clearly confirms the success of the Rafale for export, after a year 2021 already rich in contracts (Greece, Egypt and Croatia). In 2022, Indonesia is the third customer of French manufacturers (nearly 1.1 billion euros). And it’s not over with the contract still to be negotiated between India and Dassault Aviation for 26 Rafale Marine. It should be noted that of the top five client countries of France over the period 2013-2022, four bought the Rafale (in order of ranking: United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar and India), with the exception of the fifth, Saudi Arabia in last position.
“Our arms order intake in 2022 reached a historic level with nearly 27 billion euros. In this they reveal a characteristic of our exports: French armament is not only appreciated through the Rafale, which with its armaments contributes very largely to this figure, it stands out as a world reference in a wide spectrum of capabilities: missiles, frigates, submarines, artillery, helicopters, radars, observation satellites”, comments the Minister for the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu.
A sizeable contract for Naval Group
Beyond the Rafale, superstar of the 2022 balance sheet, last year was also marked by the contract for the acquisition of three Naval Group defense and intervention frigates (FDI) by Greece as well as their maintenance and associated armaments. With the purchase of three FDI and six Rafale, Greece is thus on the second step of the podium in 2022 with 3.9 billion euros in orders in 2022. In Europe, Poland, which buys very little from France, signed in 2022 a very good order for more than 600 million euros. It offered itself two French observation satellites from Airbus Space in December 2022. The Poles, who bought 668.6 million worth of military equipment from France, nevertheless remain at the foot of the podium of customers of French industrialists (4th place in the 2022 balance sheet). Finally, with 549 million euros in orders from France, Singapore ranks 5th.
Driven by Rafale contracts, the aeronautics sector will represent 65% of order intake in 2022, and the missile and equipment sector around 14%. The Near and Middle East zone recorded 64% of the total, the Europe zone maintained a significant level of 23%, followed by the Asia zone with 8% of order intake (including 1.6 billion euros for South-East Asia).
1690307107
#Historic #unprecedented.. #France #exported #billion #euros #worth #arms