In July 2009, French defence minister Hervé Morin told the country’s parliament that defence spending would be slightly less than projected between 2009 and 2014. Although the total of EUR377bn up to 2020 was still the target, Morin said that in the first six-year budgetary period some EUR186bn would be spent, including EUR102bn on equipment. This represents a cut of EUR6bn on equipment in the first six-year period. Morin said that the Defence Ministry was planning to spend EUR1.5bn on maintenance of equipment in operational zones. The reduction in procurement spending will result in France buying only 72 of a planned order of 292 wheeled armoured vehicles by 2020 and only 977 of the planned 2,326 VBM modular armoured vehicles over the same period. Only eight of the 11 proposed FREMM multi-mission frigates are to be purchased by 2020 and deliveries of Rafale aircraft will slow, with only 118 of the fighters set to be delivered over the next decade.

Meanwhile, the French government took the lead in July 2009 to try to rescue the troubled Airbus A400M airlifter and helped broker an agreement among the seven partner nations to give the consortium a sixmonth period of grace. This will allow the consortium to develop a plan to get the prototype flying and move the project into production. At a meeting of partner defence ministers at Le Castellet in southern France on July 24, the way forward was agreed and the ministers re-affirmed their commitment to the A400M. The French Ministry of Defence remains sceptical about the project and has begun looking at alternatives to help fill their airlift gap caused by the delays to the A400M. With the A400M now not likely to be ready until 2012 at the earliest, the French are looking to lease or buy C-130J or C-17 airlifters from US companies.

The French land sector is on the verge of a major shake-up with announcement in June that France-based Auverland Group was proposing to sell its controlling stake in the Panhard, a manufacturer of light armoured vehicles. US defence giant General Dynamics, Germany’s Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffai Wegmann, state-owned French company Nexter, and French private firms Thales and Sagem have all been tipped as possible buyers. If Panhard did come under foreign control it would be a major development and would signal that the government was willing to allow a major defence firm to go to foreign ownership.

The French government and defence industry is looking to target their scarce research and development resources at several niche sectors. There is heavy emphasis on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and aerial unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV). The most prestigious project is the Neuron UCAV, involving five European partners in a consortium led by Dassault. It is now expected to achieve its first flight in early 2012 which is being carried out under a EUR405mn contract from the French Ministry of Defense. In June 2009, the French government joined a European Defense Agency-led project to develop a Mid-air Collision Avoidance System (MIDCAS) to allow UAVs to fly in civilian airspace by 2015. The EUR50mn project also involves Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden.