Libya Provides Excellent Promotion for French Fighter Jets

How Libya is a showcase in the new arms race

By Tim Hepher and Karen Jacobs, Reuters, April 4, 2011
PARIS (Reuters)

 To take out Muammar Gaddafi’s air defenses, western powers such as France and Italy are using the very aircraft and weapons that only months ago they were showing off to the Libyan leader. French Rafales like those Libya bought in 2009, for instance, flew the western alliance’s very first missions over Libya just over two weeks ago. One of the Rafale’s theoretical targets: Libya’s French-built Mirage jets which Paris had recently agreed to repair.

The Libyan operation also marks the combat debut for the Eurofighter Typhoon, a competitor to the Dassault Rafale built by Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain. An Italian Air Force version of that plane was snapped at the 2009 show hosted by Libyan generals. Two weeks ago, that base—to which arms firms including Dassault returned last November—was attacked by the West.

Times change, allegiances shift, but weapons companies will always find takers for their goods. Libya won’t be buying new kit any time soon. But the no-fly zone has become a prime showcase for other potential weapons customers, underlining the power of western combat jets and smart bombs, or reminding potential buyers of the defensive systems needed to repel them.

“This is turning into the best shop window for competing aircraft for years. More even than in Iraq in 2003,” says Francis Tusa, editor of UK-based Defense Analysis. “You are seeing for the first time on an operation the Typhoon and the Rafale up against each other, and both countries want to place an emphasis on exports. France is particularly desperate to sell the Rafale.”

Almost every modern conflict from the Spanish Civil War to Kosovo has served as a test of air power. But the Libyan operation to enforce UN resolution 1973 coincides with a new arms race—a surge of demand in the $60 billion a year global fighter market and the arrival of a new generation of equipment in the air and at sea. For the countries and companies behind those planes and weapons, there’s no better sales tool than real combat. For air forces facing cuts, it is a strike for the value of air power itself.

“As soon as an aircraft or weapon is used on operational deployment, that instantly becomes a major marketing ploy; it becomes ‘proven in combat’,” says a former Defense export official with a NATO country, speaking on condition of anonymity about the sensitive subject.

A spokesman for the Eurofighter consortium said it had “never been involved in talks to sell the aircraft to Libya” and its presence at the Lavex air show outside Tripoli in 2009 was part of an Italian delegation organized at government level. Defense sources tell Reuters that Britain and Germany had vetoed any sale of Italian Typhoons to Libya, but the amount of other Italian military hardware on display demonstrated warm relations at the time between Tripoli and the government of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

France has been less timid about announcing arms talks with Libya which briefly held an exclusive option for Rafale jets. A French source, who asked not to be named, declined to comment in detail on past negotiations but said arms sales were handled at a government-to-government level.

Air shows like the one outside Tripoli 18 months ago are a routine fixture of the arms industry’s marketing calendar. But to convince potential buyers, Defense equipment needs to be tested and survive what marketers call a “hot war.”

“Battle-testing is something often referred to by the arms industry as an important factor for promoting their wares to export customers,” says Paul Holtom, director of the Arms Transfers Program at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

A ‘hot war’ gives arms buyers a chance to cut through marketing jargon and check claims are justified. “Everyone is looking at Libya. It is definitely a showcase,” one western Defense company official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. A Dassault executive, who did not want to be named, said the Rafale had been “combat-proven” since being deployed in Afghanistan in 2007.

The rewards are huge. India, Brazil, Denmark, Greece, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and Kuwait are among a growing list of countries shopping for one or more of the fighters flying sorties over Libya.

The deal of the moment: India’s plan to buy 126 fighter jets, an order which should be worth an estimated $10 billion.

But it’s not just offensive equipment such as planes and missiles. Aerial shock and awe provides free advertising for companies that build early warning systems and missile defenses.

“Libya is a reminder that if you can’t compete on the level of attack platforms, then you need to compete on the level of Defense systems,” says Siemon Wezeman, senior fellow at SIPRI. “Libya had reasonable air defenses and yet they didn’t make a dent. If you want to defend yourself, you need either the aircraft or the defensive systems. You will see countries asking people like Russia and China what they can provide.”