From a reader:
"France is desperate to secure foreign orders for the Rafale, and Hollande, who was in Qatar to attend a meeting of Western and Arab states that support rebel forces in Syria's 27-month-old civil war, has sought to capitalize on France's close defense and commercial links with the tiny gulf state." "In December, the French Defense Ministry warned Dassault would halt production of the Rafale in 2021 if it did not win any export orders. So Hollande, battling for key defense exports to keep French assembly lines in business amid military spending cutbacks, has a lot riding on the jet in his sales drives in the Persian Gulf."
" 'The country [UAE] is the fourth-largest
defence importer globally and is expected to spend about $52.3 billion on
defence and security equipment in the next four years. In comparison, the 2012
spending for defence was about $9.3 billion. This market could be a significant
prize for a Western state face with stagnating (or falling) national defence
budgets and shrinking demand for home orders for its indigenous defence
industries. It hints at, in part, the British government's motivation for a
refreshed relationship with its peers in Abu Dhabi."
"France is desperate to secure foreign orders for the Rafale, and Hollande, who was in Qatar to attend a meeting of Western and Arab states that support rebel forces in Syria's 27-month-old civil war, has sought to capitalize on France's close defense and commercial links with the tiny gulf state." "In December, the French Defense Ministry warned Dassault would halt production of the Rafale in 2021 if it did not win any export orders. So Hollande, battling for key defense exports to keep French assembly lines in business amid military spending cutbacks, has a lot riding on the jet in his sales drives in the Persian Gulf."
