Arms for Sale

When French Foreign Minister Michel Jobert leaves this week on a five-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Syria, he will be pursuing an aggressive campaign of economic diplomacy that is fast making France the leading seller of arms to Third World nations. The policy is already bringing handsome dividends to his government. Currently under negotiation is an agreement with Saudi Arabia that would assure France a steady supply of Saudi oil over a 20-year period. The deal could lead eventually to the flow of more than 800,000 bbl. of Saudi oil a day--a total of 5.6 billion bbl., worth about $50 billion at current price levels. The big question is how the French propose to pay for this massive supply of oil.

Part of the payment will certainly come from French arms. Already France has reportedly contracted to sell the Saudis 38 Mirage HiE fighter-bombers, 275 AMX-30 tanks and an assortment of antitank missiles and amphibious equipment. In addition, the French are negotiating with the Saudis to equip the tanks with advanced laser aiming devices and infra-red detector systems --which would make them the most sophisticated tanks in the world.

The French have taken great exception to the inference that their pending agreement with Saudi Arabia is in fact an "oil for arms" deal. "We have arms to sell, and there are arms the Arabs want to buy," declares one French official. "But arms are not specifically mentioned in these agreements."

The fact is that almost all of France's trade relations with Third World countries involve weaponry. Though both the U.S. and the Soviet Union rank well ahead of France in total arms exports (some $5 billion for the U.S. last year, and some $4 billion for the Russians), a large percentage of what the superpowers send is part of military-assistance programs. In sales alone, France exported $1.4 billion worth of armaments last year, and since 1969 it has sold arms to no fewer than 43 countries.

Some of its largest deals last year included Mirage jet fighters to Zaire, AMX-30 tanks to Venezuela, antitank missiles to several Middle East countries and Super Frelon helicopters to China. Recently, it is reported, France agreed to sell a fleet of Mirages to the tiny Persian Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi (pop. 80,000).*

Huge Surge. Pakistan's air force also flies Mirages, and its army--like India's--is partially supplied with French weapons (though the U.S. has been Pakistan's principal arms supplier, and the Soviet Union is India's). In Africa, where France supplies 13 of its 15 former colonies, as well as several other states, the duration of the Nigerian civil war can probably be attributed as much to the steady flow of French weaponry to breakaway Biafra as to the fighting spirit of the Ibos. In Latin America, France has sold arms to nine nations (including 106 Mirage 5s to Argentina and 111 Mirage mcs to Brazil). Currently it is offering its Exocet antiship missile to both the left-wing military dictatorship of Peru and the right-wing military dictatorship of Chile.

The French arms business experienced a huge surge following the remarkable performance of the fast, maneuverable Mirage nic fighter-bomber in the hands of Israeli pilots during the 1967 war. Later, in his tilt toward the Arabs, Charles de Gaulle embargoed arms sales to Middle East "front line" nations (Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria) but sold 110 Mirages to Libya on the rather shaky (though apparently unbroken) understanding that they would not be used in combat on the Arab side. The Israelis got around the embargo by buying some stolen plans for the Mirage nic from a Swiss engineer in 1969, and today manufacture a Mirage of their own that is powered by a U.S. General Electric J-79 engine.

In the past five years, the French have learned to merchandise their arms with a salesmanship that would do honor to Sir Basil Zaharoff, the notorious European munitions king who reputedly sold $7 billion worth of weapons in the pre-World War II era. Within a permanent exposition at the Satory Camp in Versailles, prospective customers can leaf through a three-volume catalogue to see pictures of the latest models of French tanks, jet fighters and minesweepers. Before making a final selection, they may discuss the possibilities with France's chief arms merchant, General Hugues de 1'Estoile, 42, a suave, puffy-faced official who learned fluent English in the late 1950s while traveling around the U.S. studying aerodynamics.

More important than salesmanship, however, are the political factors that have contributed to the growth of the French arms business. In Latin America, for instance, the French have benefited from a U.S. policy (discarded last year) of refusing to sell expensive weaponry to Latin American countries --which then simply shopped in Europe. In the Middle East, the French have managed to make sizable arms sales both to Arab states that dislike the U.S. and to others that distrust the Soviet Union. In his travels this week, Foreign Minister Jobert hopes to take further advantage of this reluctance to deal with the superpowers--and of the natural trading links that already exist between the Arabs and the Europeans.

* Which led Columnist Art Buchwald to imagine this exchange between a local chieftain and a Bedouin. "Ahmed, you lazy lout," shouts the chief, "wake up! I have a gift from the King for you. It is the latest French fighter plane, the Phantom-Mirage. It will fly at speeds over 1,100 miles an hour and can carry six air-to-air supersonic missiles. Now what do you say?" Replies Ahmed: "I still would rather have a camel."

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