Julien Malizard, Deputy Chair of Defence Economics - IHEDN, was invited to France Culture to talk about the French defence industry in the context of the Australian submarine crisis.
Julien Malizard appeared on France Culture's Cultures Mondes programme, presented by Florian Delorme, on Tuesday 28 September at 11am.
As part of a series devoted to Australia's cancellation of the contract to acquire French submarines, this episode entitled «Defence industry: is «made in France» passé?» also featured Lucie Béraud-Sudreau, Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's (SIPRI) Military Expenditure and Armaments Industry Programme, and Mathieu Duchâtel, Director of the Asia Programme at the Institut Montaigne.
At a time when France claims to have a strong defence industry, the driving force behind its strategic autonomy, Australia's breach of contract threatens not only diplomatic relations but also French arms exports, which are vital if France is to continue to innovate and develop. remain competitive. As Julien Malizard points out, «France is probably the only European country capable of producing the whole spectrum of equipment: submarines, aircraft, land vehicles, etc. The French market is too small to maintain the industrial skills needed to produce the whole spectrum. Exports enable us to maintain these skills». To what extent does the breakdown of the Australian contract reveal the limits of this approach? Can we talk about strategic autonomy when it depends on exports?
Listen to the replay of the show
