French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian wrote an article for Les Echos on May 31, stating his commitment to buy 2 MQ-9 Reaper UAS from the USA, for delivery before the end of 2013. After so much procrastination, with only 2 Harfangs operational, and with pressing commitments in Mali and elsewhere, he says that France must take the immediately available choice.
Defense Aerospace suggests that the French Air Force finally got their way, after stalling other options.
The Americans’ reluctance to allow even key NATO allies like Italy to arm their UAS suggests that French MQ-9s will also be unarmed. Add that Le Drian explicitly said these UAS would be weaponless in an earlier interview. France’s reputation for pervasive industrial espionage, even during combat operations , may also get in the way of advanced sensor exports, leaving their Reapers with 3,000 pounds of ordnance capacity that doesn’t get used. The other unresolved issue involves long-range control. If France wants to operate the Reapers via the preferred satellite link method, they’ll need to either spend the time and money to build their own control facility, make arrangements to share Britain’s newly-built RAFB Waddington facility, or co-locate with the USAF at Creech AFB, NV.
Ultimately, Le Drian argues for a European partnership that will share expertise and develop a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAS like the Reaper. The Italians must be happy to hear that, and Le Drian seems to be referring to their discussions when he says “we’re already working on it”.
The question in Europe is always whether talk will lead to action, so we’ll wait until we see a contract. The advanced nEUROn stealth UCAV is a contract, for instance, and Le Drian’s “all means necessary” commitment that “lui consacrerons a cette fin les moyens necessaires” has immediate and positive significance for its long-term prospects.
Source: Defense Industry Daily