buglerbilly
29-07-10, 04:02 PM
By PIERRE TRAN
Published: 29 Jul 2010 08:03
PARIS - A planned 3.5 billion euro cut in French military spending will hit the entire defense industry, said Charles Edelstenne, Chief Executive of Dassault Aviation as he voiced concern over potential cuts in research and technology.
"No one will be spared," Edelstenne told a press conference July 29 when asked if Dassault would be affected by the defense reduction over the next three years. "The budget was already stretched before the reduction."
Edelstenne was speaking after presenting Dassault's first half financial results, which showed a 37 percent rise in first half net profit.
"My only fear is research and technology (R&T) will be sacrificed," he said.
The future risked being mortgaged in favour of the short and medium term, he said. At the present annual 700 million euros, spending on research and technology has declined from levels seen 20 years ago, he said.
Dassault reported a 37 percent rise in first half net profit to 170 million euros from a year ago, on sales up 44 percent at 1.99 billion euros. Net profit margin was 8.5 percent compared to nine percent.
Dassault executives expect it will be September or October before the details of the French defense cuts will be known.
Lower British and French defense spending "could and should" act as a catalyst to greater cooperation between the two countries, Edelstenne said.
Britain and France are presently comparing technologies as part of a cooperative project for a medium altitude long endurance drone, he said. Edelstenne said he was optimistic that there would be no competition between London and Paris and development costs could be shared on a future UAV.
There is political will between the French and the British to cooperate in this domain, which is shared at industry level, Edelstenne said.
Dassault has pushed for cooperation with Britain on a medium term project to build a next generation UAV, to preserve industrial capability and autonomy in drones. The company is still waiting to hear from the French government on its unsolicited offer of the SDM surveillance drone, intended as a near term deployment in Afghanistan.
"We've heard nothing," Edelstenne said. The procurement now required a political decision, he said.
EADS has a rival proposal consisting of upgrades to the existing Harfang UAV, and a launch of development of the Talarion Advanced UAV, shared with Germany and Spain.
Dassault executives are unconvinced by the French Air Force's argument of urgency in favour of the U.S.-built Reaper as the company submitted offers of a UAV four years ago.
On a consolidation of defense activities between Thales and Safran, Edelstenne said Dassault signed a shareholder's agreement when it bought its 25 percent stake in the former. The deal included rationalization of optronics, inertial navigation systems and onboard electricity generation.
Safran added the avionics business of Thales to its "shopping list," Edelstenne said. He likened this to Thales asking for control of Snecma engines.
Dassault is building the Rafale combat aircraft at the minimum rate of 11 per year, compared to an initial planned 2.5 units per month. If the rate were lowered further, this would "break the industrial tool," he said.
Edelstenne repeated he was happy with the work done by Luc Vigneron as Chief Executive of Thales. There were problems at the systems company but these predated Vigneron's arrival and stemmed from large programs which were signed three or four years ago, when Thales lacked the technical competences needed to deliver the programs, he said.
Dassault is owed 200 million euros in late payments by the French ministry of defense, due to the new billing software installed government wide.
The company has delivered five Rafales so far this year, compared to seven a year ago, and 45 Falcon business jets. Operating profit was 248 million euros, up 104 percent, and operating profit margin was 12.4 percent, up from 8.7 percent
New orders totalled 989 million euros, compared to a minus 1.1 billion euros, of which 71 percent came from Falcon aircraft, and 29 percent in defense, consisting mainly of support and development programs.
Dassault sold a net two Falcon jets in the first half, compared to net cancellations of 56 units a year ago. The business jet market appeared to have bottomed out and conditions remained difficult.
Published: 29 Jul 2010 08:03
PARIS - A planned 3.5 billion euro cut in French military spending will hit the entire defense industry, said Charles Edelstenne, Chief Executive of Dassault Aviation as he voiced concern over potential cuts in research and technology.
"No one will be spared," Edelstenne told a press conference July 29 when asked if Dassault would be affected by the defense reduction over the next three years. "The budget was already stretched before the reduction."
Edelstenne was speaking after presenting Dassault's first half financial results, which showed a 37 percent rise in first half net profit.
"My only fear is research and technology (R&T) will be sacrificed," he said.
The future risked being mortgaged in favour of the short and medium term, he said. At the present annual 700 million euros, spending on research and technology has declined from levels seen 20 years ago, he said.
Dassault reported a 37 percent rise in first half net profit to 170 million euros from a year ago, on sales up 44 percent at 1.99 billion euros. Net profit margin was 8.5 percent compared to nine percent.
Dassault executives expect it will be September or October before the details of the French defense cuts will be known.
Lower British and French defense spending "could and should" act as a catalyst to greater cooperation between the two countries, Edelstenne said.
Britain and France are presently comparing technologies as part of a cooperative project for a medium altitude long endurance drone, he said. Edelstenne said he was optimistic that there would be no competition between London and Paris and development costs could be shared on a future UAV.
There is political will between the French and the British to cooperate in this domain, which is shared at industry level, Edelstenne said.
Dassault has pushed for cooperation with Britain on a medium term project to build a next generation UAV, to preserve industrial capability and autonomy in drones. The company is still waiting to hear from the French government on its unsolicited offer of the SDM surveillance drone, intended as a near term deployment in Afghanistan.
"We've heard nothing," Edelstenne said. The procurement now required a political decision, he said.
EADS has a rival proposal consisting of upgrades to the existing Harfang UAV, and a launch of development of the Talarion Advanced UAV, shared with Germany and Spain.
Dassault executives are unconvinced by the French Air Force's argument of urgency in favour of the U.S.-built Reaper as the company submitted offers of a UAV four years ago.
On a consolidation of defense activities between Thales and Safran, Edelstenne said Dassault signed a shareholder's agreement when it bought its 25 percent stake in the former. The deal included rationalization of optronics, inertial navigation systems and onboard electricity generation.
Safran added the avionics business of Thales to its "shopping list," Edelstenne said. He likened this to Thales asking for control of Snecma engines.
Dassault is building the Rafale combat aircraft at the minimum rate of 11 per year, compared to an initial planned 2.5 units per month. If the rate were lowered further, this would "break the industrial tool," he said.
Edelstenne repeated he was happy with the work done by Luc Vigneron as Chief Executive of Thales. There were problems at the systems company but these predated Vigneron's arrival and stemmed from large programs which were signed three or four years ago, when Thales lacked the technical competences needed to deliver the programs, he said.
Dassault is owed 200 million euros in late payments by the French ministry of defense, due to the new billing software installed government wide.
The company has delivered five Rafales so far this year, compared to seven a year ago, and 45 Falcon business jets. Operating profit was 248 million euros, up 104 percent, and operating profit margin was 12.4 percent, up from 8.7 percent
New orders totalled 989 million euros, compared to a minus 1.1 billion euros, of which 71 percent came from Falcon aircraft, and 29 percent in defense, consisting mainly of support and development programs.
Dassault sold a net two Falcon jets in the first half, compared to net cancellations of 56 units a year ago. The business jet market appeared to have bottomed out and conditions remained difficult.