Israel overtakes France in arms export rankings

Israel replaced France as the fourth-largest, global exporter of weapons in 2012, as French arms exports fell 26 percent from 2011 levels, a report said on Wednesday. The revelation by "Radio France International (RFI)" quoted a parliamentary report presented this week on France's previously-vibrant arms industry, which was a lucrative export earner for the economy here. A year ago, the same parliamentary report had noted that this export industry had an order value of around USD 8.5 billion (Euros 6.5 billion). The report also noted that the major portion of regular orders varied between Euros 50 million and Euros 200 (USD 65-260 million). The report, a copy of which was obtained by KUNA, also noted that 26 percent of orders in the five-year period up until 2011 came from the Middle East, followed by 21 percent from Latin American and another 21 percent to the Asia Pacific region. About 17 percent came from Europe. But in 2012, RFI said the situation has changed as "Israel (took) the fourth biggest arms exporter spot from France". French arms exports in 2012 have now fallen below the Euros 5.0 billion (USD 6.5 billion) level, down from record highs the previous year. The United States still leads the global arms exporters' rankings, followed by Russia, Britain and Israel. France has been relegated to fifth place but is aggressively pursuing a campaign to market its military-industrial prowess, as attested by the USD 900 million contract signed this week with the UAE to supply two military satellites and a work station to the Gulf country. France is also actively pursuing the sale of its high-performance Rafale fighter and is in lengthy and somewhat difficult negotiations to sell at least 126 Rafale planes to India. Other countries, some in the Gulf, have also expressed an interest in the fighter, which with a price tag of over USD 60 million has not yet found any foreign buyers. Last year, France's main client for military hardware was India, which ordered materiel worth Euros 1.2 billion (over USD 1.5 billion). Saudi Arabia order Euros 636 million in weapons and equipment and Malaysia ordered Euros 461 million for its defence sector. The United States and Russia were also important clients for the French defence export market.