http://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-se...e-des-avions-civils-et-militaires-2002525.php
Eric Trappier (Dassault Aviation): "With the Rafale, a complete American domination was prevented"
Anne Bauer www.lesechos.fr 31/05 at 07:00 Updated at 07:44
Dassault Aviation is celebrating its hundredth anniversary. The group wants to stay the course of combat drones and works on space transportation. Meeting with its CEO, Eric Trappier.
To celebrate your hundred years, you publish a book (1) shown by the flight of a business jet, the Falcon 7X, a fighter, the Rafale, and the prototype of a UCAV, Neuron. What will be the picture of Dassault aircraft in a hundred years?
I do not know if Marcel Bloch would have imagined in 1916 our devices today. You ask the impossible. But I have two certainties: Dassault continue to make civil and military aircraft. In a hundred years we will still need to travel, while in the military field, the issue of sovereignty and it will always dominate air support to defend it. The aircraft of the future will he supersonic, hypersonic, space? We can all imagine. Dassault, our engineers work on spacecraft, such as on the Hermes shuttle in the 1980s or currently on Vehra as a space transportation system to launch low-orbit satellites. One can also build a supersonic Falcon, would take it that the regulatory framework allows it to fly.
The army resumed flight tests of UCAV Neuron. Prefigures he replacing the Rafale?
This is a technology demonstrator, which test test, demonstrated both qualities: stealth and the remote control. Around the world, there is a trend towards automation of the battlefield. We try to expose fewer soldiers, pilots, while the air defense systems, such as S300 and S400 Russia, are increasingly accessible to all States. A UCAV, relatively invisible to radar, flying at low altitude and that does not expose the life of the driver, offers a guarantee to continue to penetrate a number of enemy defenses. Based on the proven technology of the Neuron, we will now launch an operational demonstrator in the Lancaster House Treaty between France and Britain. A budget of EUR 2 billion has been set.
Are we behind the Americans for stealth aircraft?
No, i dont think so. Neuron has completed its specification for 400 million euros, where Americans spent ten times more. Outstanding performance. As is also the Rafale, which was developed for 7 to 8 billion when the F35 is still not operational despite astronomical spending.
The future UCAV-Will Franco-British or European?
I think other countries will join the program. Germany the she want? For now, it gives priority to the development of a surveillance drone. Beyond collaboration with London, combat aircraft of the future will be European if the Europeans agree on a common business need. We must learn from fifteen years of failure in European defense. No common strategic need, there can be no program defined in Brussels. Needless to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Isn't the Rafale, the last Franco-French project?
Not necessarily. Let's stop this fantasy: Dassault and France don't have developed the Rafale against all other countries. Basically, there are real differences in operational requirements. For example, a nuclear deterrence, others not. In defense, the "European preference" is a concept no effect. Many countries prefer to buy American, even though it does not give them access to the source code. Look at Denmark which has decided to buy F35. If the Danes prefer to buy American and create jobs in the United States, that is their choice. Dassault will not try to dissuade them. At the tender launched by the Netherlands in the 2000s, we could give our Rafales, it would not have changed at the will of the Dutch government to equip US hunters to get sheltered from the American umbrella, NATO.
You were the boss of the aircraft that never sells. Since the Rafale is exported, what change do you see?
The profile of the winner is necessarily easier to wear than the "loser", but with the Rafale, we mostly avoided something fundamental: it prevented a complete American domination. It is a national pride to have succeeded a plane that fulfills its missions, as demonstrated today in the Middle East, and which is exported.
Will you eventually close the sale in India?
We are ready to enter at any time the ball is in the camp of the Indian government. India explains that it lacks in years of combat aircraft, all requirements are met and we greatly lowered the price. As for the bank guarantee issues raised by the Indian press, I do not understand. There is no need of bank guarantee, since there is a state guarantee. With India, it is an intergovernmental agreement, state to state, which means that France agrees that industrial deliver in due time.
Is it not legitimate that India fears to ally with a very medium power like France?
In the past, whenever India has come into conflict, she used French aircraft: the Mirage from Dassault. India therefore knows that it can count on France and Dassault. As yet just proved it by honoring time and time a recent 2000 Mirages modernization contract.
Is the business easier in business aviation?
The aviation business is a good barometer of the global economy and this year will be difficult. In a climate of uncertainty, the supply of used jets is very strong and prices fall. The price gap is widening with the new, pushing candidates to buy to offset their investments in the new. However, in the medium term, I have no doubt of its potential for development, because in an economy increasingly globalized, it is the most efficient means of transport.
