This one, it is unlikely that the Germans saw it coming! We will not come back to the most complex situation which today opposes France and Germany on the subject of the various defense cooperation programs launched simultaneously with the arrival of President Macron at the Elysee Palace, while relations between Berlin and Washington was at its worst with Donald Trump's repeated attacks on Berlin's reluctance to invest in its defense, and to acquire equipment made in the USA. Since Joe Biden's arrival at the White House, however, the situation has changed a lot for Berlin, which shows a certain eagerness to renew privileged and strong relations with Washington, going through, it seems, several acquisition programs. American equipment threatening the proper execution of Franco-German programs. In another article, we will deal with the underlying reasons which objectively lead Berlin to make this choice.
Anyway, the publication a few days ago of an authorization given to the Foreign Military Sales, or American FMS, to sell 5 P8 Poseidon maritime patrol planes to Berlin in order to partially replace its P3C Orion fleet which reached now a canonical age, has visibly worried the French authorities at the highest point regarding the future of Maritime Air Warfare System program, or MAWS. This Franco-German program should make it possible to design a maritime patrol system by 2035 to replace the Atlantique 2 of the French Navy, and the rest of the Orion fleet of the Bundeswehr. For Berlin, it is a question of making up for the obsolescence of part of its fleet, while the needs for maritime patrol are constantly growing in the North Sea. But Paris fears that letting the American P8 establish itself in Germany will end the MAWS program, about which the German authorities have not shown overwhelming enthusiasm in recent months.
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[…] 5 American P-8A Poseidons to replace its oldest P-3Cs, while France proposed to Berlin to modernize and transfer the last 4 Atlantique 2 out of the 22 in s…, the 18 others to be modernized for the National Navy. In the end Berlin dismissed the […]