French defence exports find fertile ground close to home
Shrinking sales of French defence equipment from the Middle East and Asia-Pacific were offset in 2019 by higher demand in Europe, as collaborative multinational programmes and industrial partnerships gathered pace.
According to the 'Annual Report on Arms Exports', submitted by the French MoD to Parliament in early June, the overall value of arms exports from France reached €8.33 billion ($9.37 billion) in 2019, down slightly from the 2018 total of €9.1 billion.
Even so, the MoD claimed that the figures ‘consolidate France's place in the top five world exporters’ of defence materiel.
European countries accounted for 45% of approved defence equipment exports
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