French Arms Exports

From De Gaulle onwards, France’s strategic independence has been predicated on self-sufficiency in modern weapons. To achieve and maintain the requisite defence-industrial base, in the context of limited domestic orders, Paris sought to promote the export of its arms. During the Cold War, this underpinned but was also an expression of France’s determination to resist bipolar domination. France offered customers around the world an alternative to reliance on one superpower or the other; and in do