France receives major procurement boost

France's military power is set for a major boost this year as equipment programmes funded by the country's defence procurement agency, the Direction Générale de l'Armement (DGA), and enshrined within the country's LPM (Loi de Programmation Militaire) legislation come to fruition. Major items that the French armed forces expect to receive in 2012 include:

 - one C-160 Gabriel Rénové electronic surveillance aircraft;

 - 228 Armement Air-Sol Modulaire (AASM) precision-guided kits for 250 kg bombs;

- 11 Rafale combat aircraft;

- seven Reco-NG reconnaissance pods;

- three EC 725 Caracal HUS (Hélicoptère Unités Spéciales) special operations helicopters;

- the last two EDA-R (Engin de Débarquement Amphibie-Rapide) fast-landing catamarans;

 - five EC 665 Tigre HAP (Hélicoptère d'Appui Protection) combat support helicopters and the first EC 665 Tigre HAD (Hélicoptère d'Appui Déstruction) attack helicopter;

 - protection kits for VAB (Véhicule de l'Avant Blindé) armoured personnel carriers;

 - 4,036 FELIN (Fantassin à Équipement et Liaisons Intégrés) future soldier kits;

 - 100 VBCI (Véhicule Blindé de Combat d'Infanterie) wheeled armoured vehicles;

- the last 38 VHM (Véhicule Haute Mobilité) all-terrain armoured vehicles;

- 16 Exocet MM40 Block 3 anti-ship missiles;

 - the first of 11 Aquitaine-class FREMM (Frégate Européenne Multi-Missions) multimission frigates;

 - the last five CN-235-300M tactical transport aircraft;

 - four upgraded AS 532 Cougar transport helicopters;

- four NH90 Caïman Terre and four NH90 Caïman Marine helicopters;

- 200 PVP (Petit Véhicule Protégé) light armoured vehicles;

 - the first examples of 100 WASP (Weapon, remotely controlled under Armor for Self Protection) remote weapon stations for PVP and VBL (Véhicule Blindé Léger) light armoured vehicles;

- two SAMP/T (Sol-Air Moyenne Portée/Terrestre) Mamba ground-based mobile air defence systems; - 10 MICA (Missile d'Interception de Combat et d'Autodéfense) air-to-air missiles;

 - 61 ASTER 30 air defence missiles;

and - the first 15 Mistral short-range air-defence missiles upgraded with new counter-measures systems and Sagem seekers to what is understood to be a new Mistral 3 standard

[first posted to http://jdw.janes.com - 09 March 2012]