DefenceTalkAt 2:00 a.m. on a day in early February, the deputy director of the main hospital in the southwestern French town of Dax took an urgent call from a normally unflappable colleague in the IT department. “He’s usually very calm, but I could tell in his voice that there was something very unusual,” Aline Gilet-Caubere […]

DefenceTalkFrance has begun its first military exercises in space to test its ability to defend its satellites, in a sign of the growing competition between world powers in Earth’s orbit. Michel Friedling, the head of France’s newly created Space Command, called the exercises a “stress test of our systems” and said they “were a first […]

DefenceTalkFrench forces “tortured and murdered” Algerian freedom fighter Ali Boumendjel during his country’s war for independence, President Emmanuel Macron admitted Tuesday, officially reappraising a death that was covered up as a suicide. Macron made the admission “in the name of France” during a meeting with Boumendjel’s grandchildren. The move comes after Macron stoked outrage in […]

DefenceTalkDefenceTalkFrance must “shoulder its historic responsibilities” for 1960s nuclear test sites in Algeria, a senior Algerian military official said in the influential army monthly El Djeich, published Sunday. France carried out 17 nuclear explosions in the Algerian part of the Sahara Desert between 1960 and 1966. Eleven of the tests came after the 1962 Evian […]https://www.defencetalk.com/algerian-general-says-france-must-take-responsibility-for-nuke-sites-76776/

DefenceTalkDefenceTalkThe government of France signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) with the U.S. government signifying their intent to purchase Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE: NOC) E-2D Advanced Hawkeye. The LOA allows the U.S. Navy to begin contracting activities with Northrop Grumman for production of E-2D airborne command and control aircraft. The signed LOA secures […]https://www.defencetalk.com/france-to-purchase-northrop-grummans-e-2d-advanced-hawkeye-76638/

DefenceTalkDefenceTalkIndia’s new French Rafale jets have flown “familiarisation” flights above the border region contested with China where a deadly clash between soldiers from the nuclear-armed neighbours took place in June, an official told AFP Monday. The first five planes of a $9.4 billion order for 36 Rafale aircraft were formally commissioned on September 10, with […]https://www.defencetalk.com/india-tests-new-french-fighter-jets-in-skies-near-china-border-76373/

DefenceTalkDefenceTalkFrance is confident that a deal on developing a joint European military drone project will be signed this year, after the conclusion of tough price negotiations with manufacturers, the defence ministry said Wednesday. “A few small details” still need to be worked out, but “we’re rather optimistic about this project,” an official in Defence Minister […]https://www.defencetalk.com/france-sees-joint-european-drone-project-launched-this-year-76353/

DefenceTalkDefenceTalkFrance must clean up nuclear test sites in Algeria where radioactive waste remains from testing in the former colony during the 1960s, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning group said Wednesday. France carried out 17 nuclear explosions in the Algerian part of the Sahara Desert between 1960 and 1966. Eleven of the tests came after the 1962 […]https://www.defencetalk.com/france-must-clean-up-algerian-nuclear-test-sites-group-76214/

DefenceTalkDefenceTalkThe first five Rafale fighter jets bought from France in a multi-billion-dollar deal landed in India on Wednesday, and the defence minister used their arrival to launch a veiled warning to neighbouring China over territorial tensions. A water-cannon guard of honour greeted the five jets when they landed at the Ambala air base in Haryana […]https://www.defencetalk.com/india-uses-arrival-of-new-fighter-jets-to-warn-china-76099/

DefenceTalkDefenceTalkThe first five of a batch of French Rafale fighter jets purchased by New Delhi in a controversial multibillion-dollar deal headed to India on Monday for rapid deployment amid rising tensions with China. The deal, estimated to be worth $9.4 billion, has been shadowed by corruption allegations levelled by the opposition Congress party, though Prime […]https://www.defencetalk.com/first-batch-of-french-rafale-fighter-jets-head-to-india-76058/