THE FRENCH aerospace industry has launched a concerted campaign to head off the threat of further cuts in the country's defence budget, warning that a round of massive job cuts and plant closures will follow.
The campaign comes in response to growing fears that the Chirac Government is planning to slash its defence-procurement budget to around Fr75 billion ($15 billion). At that level, the industry will face "extinction", warns Serge Dassault, president of Dassault and of French aerospace-industry body GIFAS, leading the campaign.
While the industry could live with announced spending levels of Fr90-95 billion a year, any further cuts would leave the industry with no choice but to "close factories", he says.
The Government is carrying out a fundamental review of defence spending, with defence minister Charles Millon making it clear that he expects the industry to make severe cuts in costs to improve efficiency and competitiveness.
Dassault complains that the Government is failing to take into account the strategic importance of the French industry, which he says is alone in Europe in retaining a complete capability.
Major programmes are threatened by the review now taking place, including the Dassault Rafale fighter, NH90 transport helicopter, Eurocopter Tiger anti-tank helicopter and the planned Future Large Aircraft.
Dassault explicitly rules out any merger between Dassault and state-owned Aerospatiale, which is looking for private investment to offset its Fr10 billion debt. "We do not work in the same areas," says Dassault.
The Government, meanwhile, has told Aerospatiale president Louis Gallois that his demand for recapitalisation can only be met "...if Aerospatiale demonstrates that it has established a more dynamic strategy".
Source: Flight International
