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Jeff Head said:

IMHO, they should be building 250 of them. These builds of less than 200 aircraft will simply not be enough if things really ever get out of hand and a major war comes along. The Chinese understand this and are building accordingly.

The US, France and other western countries are simply building too few to be able to handle any attrition in the event of major hostilities where air power is contested. it is as if the western planners believe that there will never, ever be another conflict where anyone can challenge them. Again, IMHO, a serious mistake.

But, you have to admit all the same, it is a beautiful aircraft and very capable.

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CMN, the Cherbourg based shipyard clearly shows its ambitions for export and domestic markets. At the 23rd EURONAVAL show to be held from 22 to 26 October 2012 at the Paris-le Bourget exhibition center, CMN will unveil several new ship designs including a unique and innovative concept demonstrating CMN's ability to innovate and push the performance level of its vessels.

Combattante SWAO 53
The Combattante SWAO 53 is revolutionary stealth ship concept with a unique outrigger hull design, fitted with a large capable of accommodating both helicopters and UAVs. SWAO stands for "Small waterplane area outrigger".

With a lenght of 53 meters and width of 16 meters, the Combattante SWAO 53 is capable of reaching 30 knots. Its weapon systems consist in a 57mm main gun, two 30mm remote weapon stations and 8 VLS tubes for Surface-to-Air missiles. The crew consists in 26 sailors with accommodations for 9 passengers. Navigation, radars, and electronic warfare sensors are all grouped in a single integrated mast.

Combattante FS 56
The Combattante FS 56 is a compact ship with a stealth design capable of high speeds and strong firepower actions for anti-surface warfare and land attack missions. Those qualities make the Combattante FS 56 the vessel of choice when surveillance and attack are key requirements.

With a length of 56 meters and width of 8.2 meters, the Combattante FS 56 is capable of reaching an impressive 38 knots. Its weapon systems consist in a 76mm main gun (Capable of deploying Oto Melara's Vulcano rounds for Land Attack missions) and a 40mm secondary gun at the stern, two 30mm remote weapon stations and 8 MM40 Exocet anti-ship missiles. The crew consists in 32 sailors. The main bridge offers a panoramic 360° visibility. As with the Combattante SWAO 53, navigation, radars, and electronic warfare sensors are all grouped in a single integrated mast.

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The Normandie FREMM Frigate, second ship of Aquitaine class
is launched at DCNS shipyard in Lorient
(Picture: DCNS)​

On october 18, 2012, DCNS launched the Normandie FREMM frigate in the presence of French Minister of Defence, and Minister of Economy and Finance. This success underlines once again the industrial dynamism of DCNS: six multi-mission frigates are currently under construction.
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To date, six FREMM are under construction at the DCNS Shipyard in Lorient:
• The Aquitaine, first of the FREMM series, will be delivered to the French Navy by the end of 2012.
• The Mohammed VI, second of the series, for the Royal Navy of Morocco, was set afloat in September 2011.
• The Normandie, third ship in the FREMM series, has been set afloat.
• The Provence, fourth of the series, will soon be assembled
• The Auvergne and Languedoc, fifth and sixth ships of the FREMM series saw their construction begin respectively in September 2011 and August 2012.

The Normandie FREMM Frigate during its launch on 18/10/2012
(Picture: DCNS)​

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France and the United States discuss about a purchase of a drone MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance) from U.S.. More specifically, the Ministry of Defence "for this purpose began informal discussions with the American industrialist General Atomics' Predator famous manufacturer, said last week the Delegate General for Armaments, Laurent Collet-Billon, the members of the Defence Committee of the National Assembly. "If we want to equip our forces quickly operational means, the only source, is the United States, with all the disadvantages known" including "in control software and some sensors." However, the period does not seem conducive to speed up negotiations.

Why? "The election period in the United States does not favor immediate result of this process," he said. And this is mainly due, as argued, the PS deputy of Meurthe-et-Moselle, Jean-Yves Le Déaut, "buy American equipment" does "not without problems of source codes, the Americans never deliver those, not even to the British. "Clearly, holding the source code, which are often of national sovereignty, is like controlling the client country's UAV missions through systems communication drones (data link). Client countries "depend operationally on the Americans," said one expert on the subject. This can be disturbing for France to be monitored by the United States or evening prohibit an operation for reasons of U.S. strategy. Hence the desire of France to negotiate a frenchization of the Predator sensors, which is now facing the U.S. presidential campaign. The election will be held Tuesday, November 6.

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