The lower house of the French parliament recently officially approved a draft law on the military budget for the six years from 2024 to 2030 with a total amount of 413.3 billion euros. This considerable sum is also a reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and represents a 40 percent increase compared to the 219 billion euros in the period of the previous military budget law. The budget bill now goes to the upper house, the Senate, for approval. The Macron government hopes that it can be published by July 14. On that day, France celebrates its national holiday with a military parade on the Champs-Élysées, commemorating the storming of the Bastille prison and the start of the French Revolution in 1789. In the run-up to the bill becoming law, the Senate invited relevant key personnel from the industry to hearings, including Dassault-CEO Éric Trappier. The influential CEO of arguably the most important French defence company and Chairman of the French Aerospace Industries Association GIFAS (since 2017) answered the questions of the assembled politicians at length and went into interesting detail in many areas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ymR-aIAXUs
Éric Trappier on the EU defense industry(s)
“I would like to remind you of the EU taxonomy of the defense industry. The associated stigmatization of the defence industry in Europe has been removed, but many speeches in Brussels and especially in the European Parliament criticize the defence industry. The bottom line is that only the Americans or our enemies benefit from this. Together, we must internalize the idea that we all benefit from the financing of the European defence industry. The aim cannot be to make a small profit. Rather, the aim must be to be efficient and make a good profit – at the end of the day, this is also relevant to security. In the USA, it is assumed that entrepreneurs endanger their business and the US defense if they fall below a profitability of 15 percent. This is out of the question for us, but the day we move into similar dimensions here too, we will have made great progress. And one more word on the often-cited ‘decarbonization’ of the military: if we stopped all wars, we would certainly make big gains in this area. But unfortunately, it’s more about avoiding them. And we have to be prepared to do this by developing, manufacturing and purchasing expensive combat aircraft!”
Éric Trappier on the war in Ukraine
“I often hear that French arms manufacturers are profiting from the war in Ukraine. In my opinion, Dassault is certainly not profiting from it. These words that we hear on the radio or on television are false. In reality, they come mainly from some NGOs. Only US companies are really making a profit from the war and its consequences. Because our forces are not deployed directly, but on the margins of the war in Ukraine. Our priority was therefore to be active in the area of operational support. However, the verticalization of support is essential.” Éric Trappier on Rafále production and future
“The ‘Rafále Omnirole’ program supports more than 400 companies throughout France. These companies are facing a number of difficulties, including the rise in energy prices. Nevertheless, I can confirm that we have increased our output to three aircraft delivered per month and that we could also handle a rate of four aircraft per month. In our factory in Lille, which deals with primary parts, it is enough to speed up the machines a little, hire a little more staff, have a little more subcontractors working and we could easily increase the rate. But the concept of a “war economy” doesn’t apply to us. I’ll be honest: if I need to speed up, I know how to speed up. However, for budgetary reasons, the state does not want to speed up in the area of fighter aircraft; the government has reduced orders for the Rafále from 185 to 137 units by 2030, one per month. Nevertheless, capacity utilization is increasing thanks to exports. The most complicated part is final assembly, because you need space, which has to be planned in advance. But nothing is impossible. We have space in Mérignac and know how we can significantly increase production rates there.”
“After the government delayed deliveries, deliveries of the Rafále to the French Air Force will resume, with 13 units to be delivered this year, 13 in 2024, 12 in 2025 and one aircraft in 2026. The long-awaited domestic order has thus been increased by 12 units in order to supply jets flown and used by the French Air Force to Croatia. used jets to Croatia and Greece sold to Croatia and Greece. Further export prospects for the fighter aircraft lie in India – which requires patience – and in South America. It is expected that Indonesia is expected to place further orders in the coming months as part of a piecemeal deal for 42 units. Jakarta has already ordered the first batch of six Rafále.”
“Regarding modernization steps, given the current progress of the 6th generation SCAF program (in rest of Europe as FCAS in the rest of Europe), the transition to this next capacity programme will largely take place after 2040, which justifies the importance of further modernizing the Rafále so that it remains operational between 2030 and 2050. The priority in the current development of the F4 standard is collaborative, connected combat. This problem is taken into account in F4 and the standard will therefore include architectures that are resistant to cyber attacks. The computer, which is very close to the mission, will always be fully independent, it is the heart of the heart.”
“With the development work on the Rafále F4 version, a powerful data exchange in microseconds for connected combat has started and the network capability will be extended in view of the already planned F5 version of the fighter jet. By 2030, 30 new B and C variants will be delivered to the F4.2 standard with updated system hardware, with newer aircraft in the existing fleet being standardized to F4.1 and worn-out examples being retired or sold. F5 already exists in its infancy in F4, thanks to communication architectures that have also been defined with cyber issues in mind. Originally planned until 2032, there is a slight delay until 2035. This future Rafále F5 version will fly with remote-controlled carrier drones or a Neuron-type UCAV, but it is up to the government to provide further details.” https://www.militaeraktuell.at/rot-weiss-rot-auf-der-paris-air-show/ “Of course, the Mirage 2000 series will still be around for some time. Their contractual availability in France is in the same order of magnitude as in the other countries in the world where we operate, i.e. around 90 percent. An MLU will be completed on 36 to 48 Mirage 2000Ds by 2030, but they are expected to be decommissioned by 2035, leaving only the Rafále fleets.” Éric Trappier about nEUROn UCAV
“For the continuation of the nEUROn it is our idea to continue in this area of hard-to-detect combat drones, keyword Wingmen and the like. However, I can’t tell you any more about this at the moment, as it is the state that has control over this issue. We are – after various successful flight tests – still in the study phases and nothing is contractually fixed.”
Éric Trappier on SCAF (European FCAS)
It is estimated that the total cost of the FCAS program could reach around 100 billion euros, which will be shared by the three partner countries France, Germany and Spain. The budget for the current phase 1B and then phase 2 amounts to a total of around 8 billion euros. The plan is for a combat aircraft demonstrator to fly around 2028/29 – already a few years late anyway – together with a loyal wingmen remote carrier drone and a simpler, less expensive drone. The more ready entry into service is scheduled for 2040.
“With regard to the repeatedly discussed merger between SCAF and Tempest I would like to remind you that it is and was already difficult to set up SCAF with the three countries. Merging the two projects would mean asking the same questions on an even larger scale: Who is the leader then?” “The goal with SCAF is to fly an FCAS technology demonstrator, which requires the negotiation of a Phase 2 contract. And I would add that from my perspective, it looks optimistic to say that the fighter would enter service in 2040. Nevertheless, the alliance around SCAF seems to me to be more serious than the alliance of the UK, Italy, Japan and Sweden around the Tempest or Global Combat Air, as the system is now called. There are statements that this is supposed to fly as early as 2027but will these countries really build a combat aircraft to rival the American one? And if so, with what budget? The British, America’s loyal ally, and Japan, America’s no less loyal ally, are leading the way – and they of all countries are to build a competitor to the US NGAD build? Or to put it another way: Will the US also be able to take control of the fighter aircraft that the UK will build and procure?” Éric Trappier on the no to Belgium as an FCAS partner
“Regarding the reports that Belgium wants to join the three European partner nations in the FCAS, I can only say that I have heard about it. Under these conditions, I propose to immediately create an F-35 club within the framework of the SCAF project (note: Belgium has ordered F-35s jointly with Germany). ordered F-35s together with GermanyThe latter to carry US nuclear bombs stored in Germany for NATO, making the F-35 the “uninvited guest”, so to speak, of the FCAS industrial partnership). The inclusion of further partner nations entails the risk that the FCAS project will be slowed down again by further negotiations; the current Phase 1B is already difficult to manage. There will have to be a new contract for Phase 2, with the same work shares. Including Belgium would mean a new work-sharing plan, which I oppose. Also because of the likely loss of jobs in French factories and design offices, with the work going to people who have opted for the F-35. I don’t see why I should give work to the Belgians today. No, if this is forced on me, I will fight back.
Éric Trappier on data and cyber security and interoperability
“In the future, it will be about the ability of Rafále, Eurofighter Typhoon and Tempest to fly together, to operate together. In my youth, when I joined Dassault, being an ally meant being able to be interoperable. That was done back then. But then this approach was lost, we have to come back to it – that is one of the big challenges of the future. A large digital communication network is needed at FCAS, as the Link 16 system is already at full capacity. This networked approach raises security issues that need to be addressed. The more connected the fighters are, the more vulnerable they become. I remind you that the more networked we are, the more vulnerable we are. But we need to be more connected and less vulnerable. That is the great challenge of the coming standards. The sooner they are defined, the better. The mission computers would have to work completely independently of the other computers on the fighter aircraft in order to avoid cyber attacks. In the cyber security field, anyone who says there won’t be a problem and that they know 100 percent how to do it is a liar. Let’s compare this to the sword and shield in times of war. The shield is never 100 percent safe, the sword always has an advantage.” “As far as collaborative combat is concerned, it takes place in the microsecond, without transmission via relays or satellites, but via very powerful data links. Aircraft that carry out an attack together are very closely linked, that is, the computers of each aircraft are linked so that one aircraft can fire the weapon of the other aircraft and vice versa, that one has the situational awareness of the other and so on. Today, this is only possible between Rafáles, as part of a Rafále patrol. If you have an F-16 and an F-35, it’s not possible and it won’t be.” https://www.militaeraktuell.at/raytheon-mega-patriot-deal-mit-polen/ “Within the SCAF, the aim is for European aircraft to work together. But the majority of ‘European’ aircraft today are American aircraft, so the problem I described arises – and it continues. I don’t think Poland, for example, has called for the purchase of European aircraft, even Korean airplanes are coming there. And with an F-35 it’s even more difficult, because the Americans have surprisingly created a kind of ‘American standard outside NATO’. It’s a closed circle. When the question is raised, the Americans only answer that in order to be interoperable, we would have to buy F-35s. They have gone from interoperability to standardization, the allies would have to buy American aircraft. However, the F-35’s closed communications system poses problems when carrying out cooperative combat missions with the planned European SCAF.
Or, how will the British ensure that the Eurofighter and the F-35 work together? With relay aircraft?”
Éric Trappier on artificial intelligence
“I don’t believe that you need to have the full capability and the full spectrum to carry out war missions with artificial intelligence (AI). AI can be interesting for drones if communication is disrupted or interrupted. The drone must then be able to either continue the mission if the man has previously decided to do so, or return to its base autonomously. We have carried out simulations in Saint-Cloud that have been presented to the military to demonstrate or stimulate interest in artificial intelligence in this field. We are working with Dassault Systèmes on a ‘sovereign cloud’ and I am already calling on European nations to work on joint cloud computing to increase security – instead of relying on Google or Microsoft.”
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