French Government Buying US Drones Is a Positive Step in International Commerce
European NATO Nations seem to be in sort of a bind financially and therefore their expenditure on military hardware has been cut short, and they must cut costs and save anywhere they can.
This means only the most competitive companies can stay in business as defense contractors, it also gives rise to secondary markets and knock-off copies of military equipment.
Equipment manufactured in other nations, maybe even China.
Okay so, let's discuss this because it is not only the EU which is cutting its military budget, so too is the USA.
All at a time when the Middle East is spending huge amounts along with China and others - the English, French, Germans, Italians, etc have all cut major defense projects.
The missile defense shields in Europe are at risk of being cut, so too, are new purchases of submarines, aircraft carriers, fighter planes, and other military hardware, including unmanned drones.
In fact, there was an interesting piece recently in Defense News by Pierre Tran, published on November 29, 2011 titled; "French Senate's Call: Buy Reaper, Not Heron UAV" and it appears that the US defense contractor General Atomics has secured a large order over IAI - Israeli Aerospace Industries.
Interestingly enough IAI has sold Heron UAVs to the Russians, and others, while General Atomics has only sold to staunch US Allies, even if the Chinese have attempted to copy it.
But is the MQ-9 Reaper by General Atomics actually the better aircraft? I believe it is, but what is fascinating in all of this is that the socialist party of the French Government made this call for a change of order from the Heron UAV to the Reaper model.
It seems as if IAI had gotten a sweetheart deal due to the amount of business that they had done with French Company Dassault, still the socialist government party in France sought to de-couple their military needs with their industrial policies, and in turn save some money, about 110 million Euro between the two companies' bids, while EADS would make local modifications for another 88 million the article stated.
Also realize that the American model "The Reaper" can carry hell-fire missiles and be armed, which is not what the Heron UAV model is designed for, although I suppose with very little modification, and/or a re-design it could be fitted with narrow diameter missiles, and other ordinance as well.
It seems that the game is changing and militaries' in first world nations will have to better control costs to maintain and modernize their defense strength.
Please consider all this and think on it.
This means only the most competitive companies can stay in business as defense contractors, it also gives rise to secondary markets and knock-off copies of military equipment.
Equipment manufactured in other nations, maybe even China.
Okay so, let's discuss this because it is not only the EU which is cutting its military budget, so too is the USA.
All at a time when the Middle East is spending huge amounts along with China and others - the English, French, Germans, Italians, etc have all cut major defense projects.
The missile defense shields in Europe are at risk of being cut, so too, are new purchases of submarines, aircraft carriers, fighter planes, and other military hardware, including unmanned drones.
In fact, there was an interesting piece recently in Defense News by Pierre Tran, published on November 29, 2011 titled; "French Senate's Call: Buy Reaper, Not Heron UAV" and it appears that the US defense contractor General Atomics has secured a large order over IAI - Israeli Aerospace Industries.
Interestingly enough IAI has sold Heron UAVs to the Russians, and others, while General Atomics has only sold to staunch US Allies, even if the Chinese have attempted to copy it.
But is the MQ-9 Reaper by General Atomics actually the better aircraft? I believe it is, but what is fascinating in all of this is that the socialist party of the French Government made this call for a change of order from the Heron UAV to the Reaper model.
It seems as if IAI had gotten a sweetheart deal due to the amount of business that they had done with French Company Dassault, still the socialist government party in France sought to de-couple their military needs with their industrial policies, and in turn save some money, about 110 million Euro between the two companies' bids, while EADS would make local modifications for another 88 million the article stated.
Also realize that the American model "The Reaper" can carry hell-fire missiles and be armed, which is not what the Heron UAV model is designed for, although I suppose with very little modification, and/or a re-design it could be fitted with narrow diameter missiles, and other ordinance as well.
It seems that the game is changing and militaries' in first world nations will have to better control costs to maintain and modernize their defense strength.
Please consider all this and think on it.