Around EADS 'tsunami', 'au nom de la France vers l'OTAN' and Latin America

From Defence News, regarding procurement Chief Executive of the Délégation Générale pour l'Armement (DGA), Mr. Laurent Collet-Billon, at a press conference held March 14 and 17 on the DGA's 2008 results and the A400M delay

France To Double Arms Spending in 2009 and 4-Year Delay Expected for A400M

From the first article, two excerpts:

"France will boost domestic arms orders this year to 20.3 billion euros ($26 billion) from 9.4 billion paid out to industry in 2008, Chief Executive Laurent Collet-Billon of the Délégation Génerale pour l'Armement (DGA) procurement office said", and

"The strong order level would give visibility to French industry and bolster cash holdings of companies that could strike European strategic alliances, he said. In exchange, the DGA will seek significant price reductions from industry".

From the second:

"The A400M will be four years late for operational duty, and France could cut orders for the airlifter as it looks for "gap fillers" to make up for the delay in delivery, procurement Chief Executive Laurent Collet-Billon said"

Photo: An Eurocopter EC-725 CSAR. Also, México firma contrato por seis helicópteros Eurocopter EC725 (March 11, 2009), just after the Brazilian-French big arms sales deal...