France

Two clashing visions of France were before the French voters. They chose, with many reservations, Macron and rejected Le Pen, but not wholly, for, her opposition to the EU, in some measure, enjoys the support of a sizeable section of French society.

• Bharat Wariavwalla
• May 09, 2017
• IDSA Comments

The biggest lesson that India can borrow is France’s integrated and centralised procurement structure, which has the dual responsibility of arms acquisition and defence industrial development.

• Laxman Kumar Behera
• August 29, 2016
• Special Feature

Against the backdrop of the Paris attacks, there is a need to introspect about the effectiveness of the approaches adopted by major states to counter terrorism.

• Ajey Lele
• November 18, 2015
• IDSA Comments

Today, military historians as well as those dealing with colonial South Asian history tend to overlook the fact that during the First World War, the Indian Army was Britain’s strategic reserve. It vitally despatched over 150,000 troops to the Western Front to shore-up the British sector in the critical period of 1914-1915. To the Indian sepoys who crossed the kala pani to fight, die or be wounded in the trenches there, it was a jarring initiation into modern industrialised warfare.

• Chandar S. Sundaram
• October 2015
• Journal of Defence Studies

The recent French intervention in Mali comes almost after a year of turmoil in the country. Mali needs to achieve an internal political process which will strengthen the government’s mandate and provide economic security and sustainable development to the country.

• Melissa M. Cyrill
• February 08, 2013
• IDSA Comments

All that the western powers have achieved so far with regime change is to propel into powerful positions an assorted lot of Islamists as well as autocrats with medieval beliefs and a penchant for terrorism.

• R. S. Kalha
• January 23, 2013
• IDSA Comments

The ongoing global financial crisis has had an increasing strain on the defence budgets of different European countries. In the case of France, an intelligent and anticipatory/ preventive planning has mitigated the effects of the crisis but challenges remain, which have to be taken seriously and addressed effectively, if France wants to maintain its strategic autonomy.

• Adrien Frossard
• August 24, 2012
• IDSA Comments

Sarkozy’s speech at ISRO was an interesting mix of issues relating to geostrategic significance, business, and collaboration in science and technology.

• Ajey Lele
• December 07, 2010
• IDSA Comments

The question is not whether bilateral co-operation among member-states is a substitute for common European defence.

• Kalyani Unkule
• November 25, 2010
• IDSA Comments

Is the French 4th+generation fighter aircraft doomed? This question must be anguishing people in Dassault and the French government. The Rafale has not won any contract in the export market since its entry into service in 2004 and is now apparently out of race for the MMRCA contract. What lies behind all these repeated commercial fiascos? The Rafale lost five major bids against its US counterparts in recent years: in South Korea (2002), Singapore (2005), Saudi Arabia (2007), Morocco (2007) and apparently India.

• Guillem Monsonis
• May 14, 2009
• IDSA Comments