France and the UK have announced that they are deploying ground attack helicopters in Libya to tackle the armed forces of the government. According to Defpro, the move is aimed at providing more precision and on-the-ground relevancy for allied operations in the country. The attack helicopters provided by the French military will operate from the Mistral-class amphibious ship the Tonnerre. The Tonnerre set to sea on May 17 and will soon begin full operations in Libya. Despite the announcement by the French defence minister that the British would be deploying attack helicopters, no official confirmation has been revealed by the Ministry of Defence, which insists that it is still considering whether or not to deploy AH-64s to the Libyan conflict zone. The decision to begin using attack helicopters in Libyan conflict has further raised fears that France and the UK are slowly being drawn into a bloody and open-ended conflict. The possibility of 'boots on the ground' has been discounted by each government although such an escalation could be one of the few ways in which the conflict could be resolved quickly.
Meanwhile, the French and Russian governments have struck a deal which will see four Mistral-class helicopter carriers delivered to the Russian Navy. Under the terms of the deal, two will be constructed in France and two will be constructed in Russia. The governments have said that the details have been agreed and that the final form of the contract will be signed in the middle of June. This is a major sale for the French defence industry and also marks the first significant foreign arms purchase by Moscow since the fall of the Soviet Union. The announcement of the deal came at a meeting between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Dimitriy Medvedev at Deauville.
European defence superpower EADS has announced that it recorded a EUR12mn loss for the first quarter of 2011, according to figures released by the company. The firm said that the loss was due to losses on foreign exchange. In particular the losses arose from the negative consequences of accounting revaluations of the British pound and the US dollar. However, according to the firm, revenue grew 10% year-on-year (yo- y) to EUR9.9bn. EADS said that it is pleased with the results as underlying figures indicate that the firm is growing strongly in line with the global economy, which is showing growing signs of strength after shaky growth in recent quarters.
However, all is not positive for the company. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has ruled that some of the European subsidy programmes used to benefit Airbus and EADS were against the international grouping's rules. A six-month deadline to end the practices will begin in June 2011, according to reports from Reuters. It is thought unlikely, however, that this ruling and its compliance will resolve the ongoing trade dispute. The dispute, which is thought to be the largest ever, is expected to drag on as the US challenges the European way of implementing the decision. The EU says that most of the schemes which were ruled illegal have already been cancelled, but the US says that the illegal aid totals US$18bn.

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SWOT Analysis 7
Political SWOT Analysis . 7
Economic SWOT Analysis . 7
Business Environment SWOT Analysis . 8
Global Political Outlook 9
Japan After The Quake . 10
Global Hotspots: Libya, Iran, Afghanistan, Korea . 11
Wild Cards To Watch 15
Europe Security Overview 18
Political Risk Analysis – The Strategic Outlook For The 2010s . 18
Europe In A Global Context 18
Europe's Key Security Issues Over The Coming Decade 18
Security Risk Ratings 25
Table: Europe Security Risk Ratings (scores out of 100, with 100 the best) 25
Table: Europe State Terrorism Vulnerability To Terrorism Index . 26
City Terrorism Rating . 27
Table: BMI’s Western Europe City Terrorism Index 27
Political Overview 29
Domestic Politics 29
Long-Term Political Outlook 31
Security Overview 34
Internal Security Situation . 34
Latest Developments . 36
Timeline: Internal Threats 37
External Security Situation 40
Latest Developments . 41
Timeline: External Security 42
Armed Forces And Defence Industry . 47
Armed Forces . 47
Current Strength . 49
International Deployments 50
Table: Principal Deployments Of The French Armed Forces 51
Coordination And Joint Operations 53
Weapons Of Mass Destruction 54
Market Overview 57
Industry Trends And Developments 57
Latest Developments . 62
Timeline: Defence And Procurement 65
Arms Trade Overview . 70
Table: Key Players In The French Defence Industry 76
Procurement Background . 77
Industry Forecast Scenario . 80
Armed Forces . 80
Table: Armed Forces, 2000-2008 ('000 personnel, unless otherwise stated) . 80
Government Expenditure 81
Table: Government Expenditure On Defence Industry, 2008-2015 . 81
Table: Expenditure Scenario – Changing % Of GDP, 2008-2015 (US$mn) 82
French Defence Trade 84
Table: Defence Exports, 2008-2015 (US$mn) 84
Table: Defence Imports, 2008-2015 (US$mn) 84
Table: Defence Trade Balance, 2008-2015 (US$mn) . 84
Macroeconomic Forecast . 85
Company Profiles 88
Dassault Aviation 88
DCNS 90
EADS 92
Thales . 95
BMI Methodology . 99
How We Generate Our Industry Forecasts . 99
Defence Industry . 99
City Terrorism Rating 100
Table: Methodology .102
Sources 103
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