F-16 Belgians. France makes another proposal. A real gamble (V5)

(B2) The French Minister for the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, confirmed this in Tallinn, on the sidelines of the informal meeting of EU defense ministers (answering a question from our colleague from AFP): “ the French government will make a proposal to Belgium for the renewal of its fleet of combat aircraft. She thus seems to deny information given by the Free Belgium which indicated that Dassault had decided not to submit an offer for the replacement of the Belgian F-16.

A government-to-government offer

In fact, the denial is only partial because, as our colleague Jean Do Merchet writes in Top secret, France withdrew well from the call for tenders, deemed too favorable to the American F-35. But it will file a "government to government" offer (a bit like the one concluded with India), offering not the Rafale but the Rafale + (the improved version of the existing Rafale), with an industrial proposal. This agreement will include a component of industrial compensation (offset) and close military cooperation within the framework of Defense Europe ».

A partnership that goes beyond equipment

The French ambition is, in fact, as explained by Florence Parly, the establishment of a " deep partnership between our two countries. This structuring partnership would include not only the supply of the Rafale combat aircraft, but also a " in-depth cooperation between our two air forces in operational, training and support areas, as well as industrial and technical cooperation involving companies from both countries » indicates the communicated of the Minister of the Armed Forces. A partnership that would go “ far beyond just military equipment [and] would consolidate the old and deep relationship between the two countries, and would contribute the strengthening of Defense Europe and its strategic autonomy, at a time when this is more necessary than ever ».

Two competitors only

Boeing and Saab (Gripen) having already thrown down the gauntlet, there will therefore only be two more planes in the running for the first phase of Belgium's call for tenders (which ends this evening): the American F-35 ( preferred by the Belgian Air Force) and the Eurofighter/Typhoon (defended by the British).

Belgians taken aback

Questioned by B2, on the sidelines of the meeting, the Belgian Minister of Defense, Steven Vandeput, took refuge behind this procedure: “ We cannot talk about a procedure whose first phase ends tonight, before this first phase is finished he said, visibly taken aback by this untimely and public French position. He did not want any other details, contenting himself with saying that he had seen and discussed with my French colleague ».

(Updated) On Friday, back in Brussels, he was a little more talkative on Radio 1 (Flemish channel). First of all, he confirmed that France did not respond formally to the call for tenders for the replacement of the F-16s, as the RTBF. So Paris is out of the game for this one. But the French government did make a direct proposal to Belgium. " We must first examine the legal status of this proposal he explained.

Comment: France is attempting a political and economic "coup". The public competition exposed the Rafale not to win a call for tenders, which we swear "piped" in Paris (but also in Stockholm). By proposing to override, in an agreement that could lead to more economic benefits for Belgium, particularly in Wallonia and Limburg (1), Paris is trying to reshuffle the cards, to overturn the game table, by bringing on its side industrialists and certain political leaders, by highlighting the construction of the Europe of defense (to which several partners of the coalition in power are attached, in particular the Reform Movement). Incidentally, he could thus introduce a linguistic 'wolf' into the battle: which region will really benefit from the agreements reached? (1). The question of the 'return on investment' of the F-35 for the economic actors remains, indeed, subject to questioning, just like the financing of an aircraft.

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

(1) Sabca, the Belgian subsidiary of Dassault, which (among other things) maintains the F-16s, is located in Brussels, Charleroi and... Lummen, in Limburg, the family and political cradle of the Belgian Minister of Defense, S. Vandeput...

Updated to 7.9 and 8.9, with the reaction of the Belgian minister (V2 and V4), the official French press release (V3), a more detailed commentary (V4 and V5), and change of title (V5).