Safran

France, Russia, UAE
Guillaume de Villiers takes luxury property outfit Barnes and security and intelligence firm Oriol to Dubai

Guillaume de Villiers, a veteran of private security and luxury property in Russia, is prospecting in Dubai, a safe haven for wealthy Russians fleeing Moscow and Western sanctions.

France, Middle East
Gulf nations show little interest in France's special forces seminar

SOFINS, the trade fair designed to put French defence industry players in touch with their special forces and intelligence clients, is traditionally the go-to place to impress foreign delegations. However, this year's event failed to garner as much attention from the Gulf as its organisers would have liked.

France, Poland
Poland's Air Force Institute of Technology turns into defence partnerships hub

Poland is pursuing the modernisation of its airborne surveillance capacities with French and other European defence companies through its Air Force Institute of Technology.

France
Paris relaunches New Caledonian spatial and intelligence hub

A new satellite receiver is to be installed at the Nouméa-La Tontouta air base in New Caledonia, signalling the facility's growing importance in the Indo-Pacific regional power struggle against China.

France, Germany, Turkmenistan
Paris and Berlin in race to woo Ashgabat for business

French companies are making a beeline for Turkmenistan, which has opened its borders after two years, but there is competition from Germany, which is putting big efforts into business diplomacy to court the Turkmen authorities.

France, Kazakhstan
French defence industry honchos hobnob with Kazakhstan's President Tokayev in Paris

French business leaders schmoozed with visiting Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and part-public industry chiefs at a dinner at the fancy Hotel d'Evreux on Paris's exclusive Place Vendome last week.

Spotlight | France, India, Pakistan
French defence leaders keen to keep the ball rolling with India

With New Delhi's gaze still turned towards France after its acquisition of Dassault Rafales, Air Liquide, Safran, Naval Group, Thales and others are hoping for more business in India. The French Ministry of Armed Forces has all its attention focused on this window of opportunity.

Spotlight | France, Ukraine
Misunderstanding between Kyiv and Paris over arms deliveries grows

Intelligence Online was able to sneak into the top secret France-Ukraine armament committee that regularly discusses arms deliveries to Ukraine. Its latest meeting highlights the widening gap between the two parties.

Spotlight | Africa, France
Bernard Barbier boosts French bid to get back on top of African cyber sector

Bernard Barbier, a former bigwig in France's DGSE foreign intelligence service, has been promoting French cyber in Ivory Coast, notably on behalf of the former foreign intelligence officers' firms Tehtris and Corexalys.

France
Carbon 01 markets low-cost airborne intelligence systems

Carbon 01, founded by former special forces officers, is bidding to carve a niche for itself in an airborne intelligence integration, focusing on the low-cost segment of the market.

Spotlight | France
Strong push for French arms sales' reform made in new military spending law

France's defence ministry is hoping to introduce sweeping reforms of the laws governing French arms exports as part of a review of the new military spending law wanted by French President Emmanuel Macron. Despite being on the cards for years, these changes have never got past the legal hurdles their implementation involves.

Spotlight | Saudi Arabia
SAMI, AEC, Alsalam: Newton at heart of best-kept secrets of state arms group's defence contracts

US lawyers for the semi-public defence conglomerate Saudi Arabian Military Industries are trying to untangle the way in which major contracts with Western groups have been concluded for decades. At the heart of this have long been the deals made by the discreet Newton Trading Co, operated by commercial agent Abdallah Al Shugeir.

France
Battle begins to equip army's tactical drones with intelligence equipment

A quiet but fierce competition is underway to equip the French army's new Safran tactical drone system (SDT), set to be delivered by the end of the year after being delayed for years, with electronic warfare equipment.

France
ADIT goes after Sofema and DCI

Acquiring former procurement office Sofema would significantly increase corporate intelligence group ADIT's stake in foreign armies training specialist DCI. But to take control of the latter, ADIT, majority owned by the Sagard fund, must convince the French state to give up some of its shares.

France
Safran overtakes L3 in the final stretch to win French spy plane camera contract

L3Harris, the US group which produces the Wescam camera, had been the favourite but, in the end, France's Vador intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft will be fitted with Safran's Euroflir 410 cameras. One plane is already in service over Romania but is not fully equipped.

The Corporate Intelligence Village Voice
Bilal Sen, Audere, EuroSatory

Appointments, financial results, new contracts: each week, we report on events both big and small that matter in the global corporate intelligence community. This week, we go to Cologne, London and Copenhagen.

Cologne Turkish ex-cyber police official moves into German corporate intelligence

London Audere recruits new managing director

Copenhagen C. Corner and AC Defence eye French market