More than a year after Russia invaded the Ukraine, the war continues on Europe’s eastern flank. France, which is one of the main defenders of kyiv, is not strictly speaking at war, but still and always provides weapons, equipment and training to the Ukrainian army. And the French arms industry is now running at full speed.
“The war economy is not an illusion, it is a reality,” says Emmanuel Chiva, General Arms Delegate, at BFM Business. “Our industrialists have taken the measure” of the situation, he assures, citing in particular the examples of Nexter “which entered a war economy” or even the rate of production of Caesar weapons “which has doubled, with production times reduced from 30 to 17 months”.
Negotiations between the State and the industrialists
Asked about the expectations of manufacturers in the face of this demanded acceleration in the rate of production, Emmanuel Chiva acknowledges that “this requires investment.”
Still, if the companies agree to raise the tariffs, some, like MBDA which makes the Mistral missiles, shudder and demand massive orders from the state.
And Emmanuel Chiva to remember that “we are negotiating with all the industrialists.” “I’m not worried, we’ll get there because we’re all pulling in the same direction.”
Create a more agile industry
The past year has also been an opportunity to test the resistance of the French arms industry under real conditions. And notice, sometimes, heaviness. The sector is organized around “13 major main contractors”, recalls Emmanuel Chiva, referring to the BITD, the Defense Industrial and Technological Base. “But behind it there are more than 4,000 SMEs that have this agility natively.”
These nuisances are also found at the European level, in particular in the combat aircraft of the future program, the Scaf. A project that was slow to emerge due to dissension, both among the partner countries, which Belgium joined on Monday, and among the industrialists involved.
The General Arms Delegate is sure that the Scaf project is taking off. “It is not a concern that we have, it is a constant attention to the fact of being able to make this cooperation work on a European scale”, he assures. Old sea serpent, the Europe of Defense is taking shape under the impulse of France.
Source: BFM TV
