The French Defence Sector: The Current Situation and the Future

In a national economic context that has been more than gloomy since the crisis of 2007-08, the defence sector in France has been an exception to the rule: between 2010 and 2015, the annual volume of orders for French armaments has virtually tripled, rising from around 5 billion to almost 15 billion euros. Though highly controlled by the government, French arms exports have “rocketed”, profiting from a particularly tense international context. As Georges Daw shows in this assessment, the defence sector is doing rather well in France, even if the country’s defence budget is often difficult to balance. A wide range of –economic, scientific and political– issues are in play here, particularly at the European level. But many questions are also raised, given the growing international tensions and the increase in violence from terrorist groups that use weapons which have, in the main, been sold through lawful channels at one point or another. Above and beyond the economic interests inherent in the defence sector that are brought out in this article, it suggests more long-term thinking is now needed on how the balance of forces between France and the end-users of the arms it sells might possibly be changed.