BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th September, 2021) Australia's cancellation of a contract for twelve conventional submarines with France is yet another indication that Washington will never let Paris have significant military deals within NATO, Xavier Moreau, a French arms expert, told Sputnik.
On Wednesday evening, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, together with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden, declared the formation of the new "AUKUS" defense and security partnership, aimed at protecting the countries' shared interests in the Indo-Pacific.
The first initiative under the alliance will be the creation of nuclear-powered submarine technology for the Royal Australian Navy � and so the Australian government decided to abandon the $66-billion agreement with the French Naval Group for diesel-electric submarines, eliciting an angry reaction from Paris.
"French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is incredibly naive when claiming he was surprised at the cancellation of the submarine contract with Australia and calling it a stab in the back. It was to be expected. Never will the Americans allow French industry to obtain significant military contracts within NATO," Moreau, who was once an executive at the state-owned Nexter weapons manufacturer, said.
Nicolas Sarkozy, who was president of France from 2007-2012, initially justified joining NATO by claiming that France would export its military products within the bloc, Moreau noted.
"Wishful thinking. It never happens," he said.
From a long list of similar cases, Moreau selects several: in 2013, France twice won a contract to provide armored infantry vehicles to Canada, but, under Washington's suggestion, it was later canceled by Ottawa.
"The Americans torpedoed the French Nexter contract, rather than let France get a foot in their backyard," the expert remarked.
In 2015, Le Drian and former French President Francois Hollande unilaterally canceled a contract for two Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia, despite the ships having been paid for, after being pressured by the United States and Poland within NATO. Russia was reimbursed and the ships were sold to Egypt at a loss.
"To compensate, the Poles told France they would buy French Caracal helicopters for billions of euro. France believed Warsaw, but then the Poles bought American helicopters," Moreau added.
In July 2021, after considering several options, the Swiss government also opted for American F35 fighters, despite the French Rafale being a better deal.
"Switzerland does not need a stealth plane; they need to secure their airspace, but when it comes to defense contracts, the US remains dominant. It is their turf," the expert explained.
The conclusion is self-evident, according to Moreau: France should strive for more independence within the alliance and make deals with countries outside NATO, such as Russia, Brazil or China.
"France could and should be much more independent within NATO. When we sell arms to Brazil, they pay cash. The same with Russia. We could sell arm systems to China. NATO has nothing to do in the Asia-Pacific zone ... China still has not mastered the new generation of military plane engines and would appreciate cooperation. For plane carriers, France and the US are the only countries that have mastered the technology of catapults. The other builders use the 'springboard' design. China would appreciate cooperation. Exporting military equipment to China should be an option," Moreau said.
Though Australia's cancellation of the submarine contract has dealt a blow to relations between the two countries and to the Naval Group, it is still expected that Canberra will pay compensation, a French geopolitics expert told Sputnik.
"It is not much of a surprise, commercial problems have lingered for months over the massive 56 billion euro contract between the French Naval Group and the Australian state, which accuses the French company of adding undue extra costs. The tensions led to a unilateral decision by Australia, which refocuses at the same time its strategic partnership with the United States," Emmanuel Dupuis, director of the Paris-based Institut Prospective & Sécurité en Europe, said.
He further noted that even though Naval Group has long-term contracts with the French Defense Ministry, the cancellation is still a major blow to the company.
"Out of the 56 billion euro announced, 8 billion euro had to be generated in France. The company will certainly get compensation from the Australian government, but that needs to be negotiated," Dupuis said.
Apart from the financial losses, the decision is also a dubious political move, as it can be considered a stab in the back to France and other countries that believed Washington's discourse on nuclear disarmament, according to Dupuis.
"At a time when the US wants a nuclear moratorium on Iran, it is launching a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. This makes the New Zealand Prime Minister very angry since, faithful to the American commitments, Jacinda Ardern had forbidden access to New Zealand territorial waters to any nuclear-powered ship. The American nuclear containment discourse is no longer credible," the French expert said.
At the same time, Dupuis warned not to underestimate France's influence in the Asia-Pacific region and its role as a major global exporter of weapons systems.
"France has the largest exclusive economic zone in the region, roughly identical to that of the USA. France has three naval commands, from New Caledonia to Polynesia in the Pacific and 11.5 million square km (6.8 million square miles) of exclusive economic zone. This is not a joke. France has sold 36 Rafale fighter jets to India and negotiations are underway to sell the same number to Indonesia. Malaysia is still considering. Clearly French military exports are doing well, despite the unfortunate Australian recall for the attack submarines," he noted.
In the Pacific, the rapprochement of Australia, the US and the UK, on the initiative of the United States, indicates that the latter has shifted its focus from Europe and Russia to the Pacific, and is now fully involved in the containment of China in the region, Dupuis concluded.
