-Caveat Lector- http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/12/16 /wfran16.xml&sSheet=/news/2001/12/16/ixhome.html
French farce of the force de frappe By Kim Willsher in Paris (Filed: 16/12/2001) FRANCE'S armed forces are in such a state of disarray that the country could barely defend itself if it were attacked, according to a series of alarming reports by defence experts. Click to enlarge A decade of budget cuts, reorganisation and mismanagement has, it is claimed, rendered all three branches of the country's military powerless to react rapidly and efficiently at home or abroad. In spite of the billions spent on the latest equipment, much of it cannot be used: half of France's fleet of helicopters is grounded and a third of its tanks are out of action, according to a confidential ministry of defence report leaked to newspapers. The conflict in Afghanistan has highlighted the crisis and created widespread public criticism about the country's lack of involvement in the international war against terror. Political leaders have attempted to restore national self-respect by dispatching the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to join American forces in the Arabian Sea. It is hoped that the 40,000-ton accident-prone vessel, which cost a total of £2 billion to build, should be en route by today and will complete its mission without the embarrassing accidents and hitches that have led its crew to nickname it "le bateau maudit" - the damned ship. French defence spending, currently around 189 billion francs (£18.9 billion) a year, has fallen from 15 per cent of the state budget to 11 per cent since the end of the Cold War in the 1990s. The ending of national servic e and the creation of a professional army, announced by President Jacques Chirac in 1996 and intended to save £200 million a year, has drained the defence budget of at least £100 million extra this year. A lack of money, however, is not the only problem. While enormous sums have been spent on such prestigious and high-profile projects as the carrier Charles de Gaulle, the Leclerc tank and the Rafale fighter plane, the arm ed forces lack the resources to maintain and repair their equipment. A confidential report by the general armed forces board, leaked to the economic magazine Capital, concluded that more than a third of Leclerc tanks - which at a cost of £10.4 million each were intended to be the pride of France's ground forces - are currently out of use. A shortage of spare parts meant that the army was having to cannibalise part of its fleet to keep the rest in action. Around half of France's Puma, Cougar and Gazelle helicopters are grounded awaiting repairs and only a fraction of the air force's planes are fit to fly, defence experts say. "While the air force has 517 fighter planes, on ly 12 aircraft are ready to take off within two minutes in order to defend our country in the event of an attack," wrote Thierry Fabre, Capital's defence correspondent. "The others might take hours or even days to get up in the air. A large part of our aircraft are in fact nailed to the ground because of insufficient maintenance." While admitting that it had budget problems, the French ministry of defence contended that "reports of a crisis are exaggerated". "Of course only 12 planes are on standby to fly as part of the air defence mission. No coun try has all its entire air force on red alert 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," a spokesman said. However, Pierre Dabezies, a military expert and adviser to Jean-Pierre Chevenement, the former interior minister, said that at the military air base at Metz "half the planes aren't able to fly". The navy is faring little better, with only 32 of its 76 ships reported to be in a state of seaworthiness. An alarming cross-party report by MPs Charles Cova of the Right-wing RPR party and Jean-Noel Kerdraon of the rulin g socialist party blames "staggering delays" and disorganisation at French shipyards for holding up vital repairs. "It would be better to carry out small repairs in other European ports. The minesweeper Verseau was repaired in several hours in the United Kingdom compared with the four weeks minimum it would have taken if the boat had gone to Brest," the report said. The Rafale fighter plane is another example of the style over substance extravagance. The air force should have taken delivery of 137 aircraft, commissioned in 1988, almost a year ago. To date only five of the 294 planes ordered have been delivered by the manufacturer, Dassault. Hopes of recovering some of the vast cost through exports have been dashed because the plane will compete for sales against the Eurofighter, being developed by a European consortium that includes Britain, and America's Jo int Strike Fighter combat plane being produced by Lockheed Martin. Each rival is three times cheaper. Jean-Paul Hebert, a military economist, believes that the French defence ministry gave in too quickly to pressure from private manufacturers when negotiating defence contracts. "It has never tried to reduce the final bill by threatening to purchase from abroad as the English have done," he said. The most expensive folly in French military history remains the Charles de Gaulle, commissioned for the French navy in 1986. It was the pet project of the country's then president, François Mitterrand. The carrier was int ended to be a potent symbol of military might but was so riddled with faults it proved to be more of a humiliating French farce. When it was finally taken to sea last November on its first long-distance trials, part of one 19-ton propeller broke somewhere in the western Atlantic and the carrier was forced to limp home. For every year in operation t he ship has to spend four months in dock undergoing maintenance and repairs. "These sophisticated weapons conceived during the Cold War are clearly out of proportion to our needs since the fall of the Berlin Wall," said Jean-Franois Daguzan of the Foundation for Strategic Studies. "But the state h as continued to build them." 3 December 2001: French force secures base for aid flights 7 November 2001: EU leaders demand a place in front line 3 June 2001: Simpson on Sunday: Two old colonialists still prove the world's best peacekeepers 27 May 2001: French plan 'will kill Nato', claims top German general 11 March 2001: French 'calamity' carrier heads for sea - again 14 January 2001: Eurofighter snub as Britain buys US jets 12 October 2000: British better trained, says France's forces chief 16 June 2000: Protests spread as 300,000 men face last round of conscription Information appearing on Electronic Telegraph is the copyright of Telegraph Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$2DJFONYAA FPM3QFIQMFSFFOAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2001/01/14/nair14.xml Eurofighter snub as Britain buys US jets By David Cracknell, Deputy Political Editor (Filed: 14/01/2001) THE Ministry of Defence is to buy up to 150 American fighter planes for its new generation aircraft carriers which will be a huge blow to the Eurofighter project. Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, will announce that the Government is to spend £2 billion on the US Joint Strike Fighter rather than a converted marine version of the Eurofighter. Mr Hoon will make a statement to the Commons on Wednesday, claiming that the US fighter is the "best of its type in the world", although the aircraft is still on the drawing board. He will claim that British firms, including BAe Systems, will have a chance to compete for some of the associated engineering contracts, such as engine parts and electronic equipment. The controversial decision will raise a new question mark over the beleaguered Eurofighter programme. Although the British Government has ordered 232 of the European jets, it has discovered that the Eurofighter cannot be converted for maritime use because its bomb bays are too low and its take-off path is too long for the two new aircraft carriers that the MoD has ordered. Britain will purchase up to 150 US jets which will replace the RAF's Harrier jump jets and some Tornado aircraft from 2012. The US military will require 3,000 of the jets, the first of which is due to be delivered in 2008 . Lockheed Martin and Boeing are still locked in a battle to win the Pentagon contract. They are offering various designs for the aircraft, including vertical take-off and conventional take-off versions. It has been agreed, however, that it will be a single-seater supersonic aircraft capable for taking off from land or sea. The contract is likely to be the last major deal of its kind, as the following generation of milita ry aircraft is likely to be unmanned. 11 January 2001: [City] BAE fear over contracts and job prospects 12 November 2000: [City] Greece orders 60 Eurofighters 5 November 2000: [International] Eurofighter faces fresh dispute on bomber proposal 1 May 2000: Britain scraps Eurofighter gun to save money 9 March 2000: [International] Exports take off for Eurofighter as Greece orders 60 5 January 2000: [City] MoD faces plea over Eurofighter missile deal 23 December 1997: [International] Eurofighter is finally cleared for take-off Information appearing on Electronic Telegraph is the copyright of Telegraph Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. 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