"Mistral" hit a boomerang
Note that the French weapon record did not prevent story with the sale to Russia of two universal landing ships of the Mistral type - the scandal not only did not affect the manufacturer's reputation, but ultimately both ships were sold to Egypt with minimal financial losses for the French budget.
At the same time, French successes in the field of arms exports continued to multiply. The year began with a phenomenal victory in an Australian tender for the purchase of 12 non-nuclear submarines under the SEA 1000 program. The contract value is 30 billion euros, of which the share of French manufacturers will, according to various estimates, from 8 to 17 billion. Another major achievement was the signing of a contract with Kuwait on 30 helicopters Airbus Helicopters H225M (EC725) Caracal worth over a billion euros. Finally, in September, the long-awaited contract with India for the supply of Dassault Rafale 36 fighter jets was finalized. Given the transfer of weapons, the adaptation of the aircraft to Indian requirements, logistics services transaction costs 7,8 billion euros. That is, only three large contracts provided the French military industrial complex with a contracting of at least 15 billion euros, not counting smaller orders, which makes it possible to count on a new record. At the same time, the French planned to receive contracts from Egypt and Saudi Arabia for the supply of Earth remote sensing satellites, as well as from Poland to the 30 H225 (EC725) Caracal helicopters. Despite the usual difficulties for this kind of business, nothing foreshadowed serious difficulties.
Insidious Saudis
The first blow came from Saudi Arabia, which in February announced the suspension of all agreements and contracts as part of the country's earlier pledged $ 2014 billion in military aid to the Lebanese military and security forces. This agreement was reached at the end of 100, and the French expected to supply 3 new VAB Mk 100 armored personnel carriers, more than 24 Sherpa Light armored vehicles, 155 self-propelled wheeled 2-mm Nexter CAESAR howitzers, six self-propelled Mistral 314 air defense systems on light armored chassis VBL vehicles, six Embraer EMB-29 (A-225) Super Tucano combat trainers, seven Airbus Helicopters H342M Cougar transport helicopters, several light Airbus Helicopters SA 56 Gazelle (available with modernization) with ATGM NOT, three large missile boats of the project Combattante FS 100, anti-tank weapons, Airbus Defense & Space TETRA communication systems and a number of others. However, as a consolation prize, Riyadh, as reported, reissued an order for 3 VAB Mk XNUMX armored personnel carriers.
At the same time, negotiations on the supply of French weapons to Saudi Arabia proper stopped. Kingdom authorities announced that negotiations on weapons contracts will be renewed only after the presidential election in France, which should be held in April 2017. This decision, in particular, suspended the purchase of a large batch of Rafale fighters, despite the fact that the negotiations were in a very advanced stage.
The next shock was the September leak in the Australian media of technical information on being built for the Indian fleet non-nuclear submarines of the Scorpene type. The scandal itself did not yet have pronounced consequences, but this is a strong blow to the reputation, which also significantly reduces the chances of the French to consolidate naval equipment in the Indian market. And it is considered as important: the DCNS concern has proposed a four-unit modified project of the Mistral type at the Indian tender for the selection of UDC. In case of victory, the ship will be built in India with French assistance. Simultaneously with the UDC project, DCNS is promoting the new project of the light aircraft carrier DEAC (DCNS Evolved Air Craft) on the Indian market.
Greedy poles
But the apotheosis of the series of failures was the public refusal of the Polish government to purchase 50 helicopters H225М (EC725) Caracal helicopters in France totaling 10,8 billion zlotys (2,52 billion euros), as reported by 4 of October. Moreover, the motive was the inconsistency of the French proposal with the national interests of Poland, although according to the statements of Airbus Helicopters offset obligations in connection with this contract would lead to the creation of 3800 jobs in Poland, including 1280 directly related to the production of helicopters. Interestingly, literally the day before, on October 3, Airbus announced its readiness to make new concessions to the Poles.
All this happened very unexpectedly for everyone except the Poles. Literally until the last moment, it seemed that the purchase issue had been decided in favor of the French manufacturer; back in April of the 2015, the Polish Ministry of National Defense published information on the decision to choose the Airbus Helicopters H225M Caracal (formerly EC725) in the tender for the multi-purpose helicopter program. This sample was offered in a tender by the Program EC-725 CARACAL-Polska consortium led by Airbus Helicopters, the competitors were the proposals of the PZL-Swidnik company (AgustaWestland AW149) and the Sikorsky International Operations Incorporation, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporations and the Polish PZL-Mlec 70i Black Hawk). The consortium Program EC-725 CARACAL-Polska proposed to organize the assembly of H225M helicopters at the Polish military aircraft repair plant WZL-1 in Lodz. This contract would make Poland one of the largest importers of French arms, since during the period from 2011 to 2015, the total volume of contracts for the supply of arms to Poland amounted to only 82,4 million euros.
However, over the past year and a half, the Polish side was not able to agree with the Airbus Helicopters on the terms of the contract, and the choice of HNUMXM was repeatedly attacked by members of the new Polish government formed by the Law and Justice Party, who saw it as a political or corruption component. In addition, the Poles demanded an offset in the amount of 225 percent of the contract value plus payment of VAT in 100 percent. That is, Airbus had to pay more than it received (the amount of offset plus VAT reached 23 billion euros against 3,13 billion euros), a case unprecedented in the practice of arms trading. All this led to the fact that since the end of 2,52, the negotiations on Caracal were extremely sluggish, although the French did not lose hope.
It is characteristic that for the victory in the Polish tender the French went to great lengths. So, back in the 2014 year at the hearings on the transfer of the UDC of the Mistral type to Russia after the introduction of sanctions, success in the Polish helicopter tender was named as one of the arguments, because Poland was very concerned about the prospects for our country to receive both ships. In order to turn the story into a real detective, the Minister of National Defense of Poland, Anthony Macierevich, was already on 10’s October visit to Sikorsky PZL-Mielec in Melz, owned by the American company Sikorsky Aircraft (which is now controlled by Lockheed Martin), with Prime Minister Beata Szydlo. ), and the WZL-1 aircraft repair plant in Lodz announced the decision to purchase for the Polish special forces at least 21 of the medium-sized multi-purpose helicopter Sikorsky S-70i International produced by PZL-Mielec Black Hawk directly, without tender procedures. The minister promised that negotiations with PZL-Mielec on the supply of these machines "will begin this week" (started on October 11) and the first two should be transferred to 2016, and the other eight - in 2017. Obviously, such a solution was prepared ahead of time and by the time of the rejection of Caracal was in an advanced stage.
Touchy french
Apparently, the significant advances issued by the French side to Poland in anticipation of the contract, as well as the form of refusal and the open disregard of the face of the French, caused an unprecedented reaction for the arms market. Thus, the president of the concern Airbus Group, Tom Anders, said that no one has ever behaved like that to the company and it will demand compensation for its losses caused by the break in exclusive negotiations. Among the accusations also called the controversial position of the Polish government. Earlier, the president of Airbus Helicopters, Guillaume Fori, addressed an open letter to Beata Szydlo, listing all the advantages Poland would have gained by actually disclosing all the details of the contract and the offset agreement accompanying it. However, as was shown above, the choice in favor of the American manufacturer was made.
The scandal moved from the industrial level to the highest political - Francois Hollande canceled his visit to Poland, scheduled for October 13. According to French observers, this situation led to the greatest cooling between Paris and Warsaw, although the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an official statement on the strategic nature of bilateral relations. In the light of all these troubles, the contract from Thailand for the purchase of two Caracal helicopters, which was also announced on October 4, almost looked like a mockery.
This conflict seems to have far-reaching consequences. Most likely, France will significantly reduce its presence on the Polish arms market. In particular, it will be possible to forget about participating in a tender for the purchase of three submarines.
Poland has proven to be a tough negotiator who can compete with the Indians. However, the political aspects turned out to be stronger than the military-industrial ones, and even in the conditions of readiness of Airbus to make concessions, the orientation towards Washington outweighed. However, the Poles, apparently, did not expect such a reaction, and already October 12 tried to turn it back. Poland declared that its armed forces needed from 50 to 70 helicopters produced both in its territory and abroad. In light of this, Poland plans to announce a new tender, including in order to reassure Airbus.
The story of the helicopters struck the image of France as an exporter. Having gone to the loss during the implementation of the contract with Russia in anticipation of the Polish order, France, in a sense, was left with nothing. This can be a colorful illustration of the fact that exchanges and concessions are not always perceived properly and they do not guarantee the best result in the future. In addition, Polish history has shown that France is hardly holding a blow and the refusal of the Poles led to a clearly hysterical behavior of both the supplier and the leadership of the country. All this clearly can not be regarded as a manifestation of force.
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