Thales CEO says European defence capacity tied to orders
European leaders agreed at a weekend summit that they must sharply increase defence spending to show U.S. President Donald Trump that the continent can protect itself.
"Does Europe have the necessary technology to produce the full spectrum of defence equipment that it needs? The answer is yes," Thales CEO Patrice Caine told reporters, adding that France already supplied virtually all its own military needs.
But Caine, who leads France's largest defence electronics group, said industrial capacity would track actual demand.
"Production capacity adjusts naturally to the level of contracts. It is more a question for buyers, governments and armies. Will the declarations be backed by extra contracts?," Caine told reporters after posting annual Thales results.
In November, Thales predicted average like-for-like sales growth of 6% to 7% in defence between 2024 and 2028.
After hosting the weekend summit, Britain on Sunday announced an order for 5,000 lightweight multirole missiles (LMM) from Thales UK for Ukraine, saying this would treble production at its Belfast factory. That follows an order for 650 of the air defence missiles for Ukraine last September.
"For Thales it represents the equivalent of about one year of revenues generated in Britain," which are about 1.5 billion pounds a year, Caine said.
Thales said it is in the process of tripling capacity for defensive radars as well as equipment for the Rafale warplane, while quadrupling the capacity for effectors or the core armament of a missile or weapons system excluding its sensors.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
23 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Morning Joe host stuns panel by heaping MORE praise on Trump as he warms up to former arch-enemy
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough has said Donald Trump 'holds the cards' over Vladimir Putin in their diplomacy talks surrounding the war in Ukraine. The Morning Joe star made the declaration amid ongoing peace talks between the two leaders on Wednesday. 'You know, there are a lot of people talking about, "who has cards... who's not playing cards,"' he told fellow anchor Willie Geist. 'I heard some people over the weekend said Vladimir Putin is the 'only person that might...' Scarborough continued, before interrupting himself with what was billed as the only answer. 'No. It's Donald Trump. Donald Trump has the cards. 'He has the cards with, first of, with sanctions,' he said. A former Florida Republican who today is one of the left-leaning networks' leading voices, the host went on to outline why he believes Trump has little to worry about. 'He can just say, "Lindsey [Graham], go ahead - let's pass the sanctions bill and let's grind him down,' he explained, referring to the GOP senator from South Carolina. The Morning Joe star made the declaration amid ongoing peace talks between the two, pictured convening in Alaska on Friday 'And the second thing is, well, you know, there was talk about a possible $90million military aide bill to Ukraine,' he went on. 'There's two things that would change the dynamics very quickly.' The comments continued Scarborough's surprise support for the president in recent weeks, and Geist, in turn, observed how Putin has continued to attack Ukraine despite the recent peace talks. Scarborough dismissed such talk as mere posturing. 'Vladimir Putin can huff and puff and say he's going to blow the house down all he wants,' he said. 'He's not the one holding the cards. Donald Trump's holding the cards right now. 'It will be very interesting to see if he'll play them over the next 10 days.' Just last week, he criticized Democrats for publicly complaining about Trump 's takeover of Washington, DC - where Morning Joe is based - while secretly pining for a crackdown behind closed doors. Without naming names, the host detailed how he'd received calls from his friends who quietly expressed support for the deployment of federal agents to DC. Their political allegiance? 'All democrats,' Scarborough said on-air August 12. A few days before, he said he agreed with Trump in his assessment that DC is now a dangerous city. 'Certainly don't need the National Guard in there, or certainly not Marines,' he said with wife Mika Brzezinski by his side. 'But you look at Washington, DC, and it's been dangerous for years. 'There have been, you know, a year, a couple of years here, a couple of years there, where it's been a bit better - but certainly over the past five years it has just been an absolute mess. 'Its quality of life has been terrible.' Earlier this week, Scarborough - who faced criticism for meeting with Trump in Mar-a-Lago after the election - revealed MSNBC would be changing its name to 'MS NOW'. The change, CEO Mark Lazarus said in a memo viewed by Daily Mail, represents the new company's focus on 'building our individual identity and vision for the future while laying a foundation for the continued growth and success of our businesses.' MSNBC will also lose the peacock logo long associated with NBCUniversal when the name change goes into effect later this year. MS NOW is an acronym for My Source News Opinion World, execs said - after previously promising the network would keep the 'NBC' in its its name as it prepares to spearhead a spinoff company that's been dubbed Versant. The firm, also based in 30 Rock, is comprised of Comcast channels like MSNBC that had been causing declines in the parent company's share price. The stars of Morning Joe, Brzezinski and Scarborough, are said to be in the midst of exploiting their power to 'leverage their stature within the network,' according to Mediaite's Colby Hall. In a report penned earlier this month, Hall cited an unusual number of absences from both after execs pulled their show off the air following the July 2024 assassination attempt on Trump. 'It's hard to ignore the timing,' Hall wrote. 'With MSNBC's realignment on the horizon and talent contracts under review, Joe and Mika's extended absences feel like a flex - a reminder that Morning Joe doesn't work without them,' he added. The Versant spin off is expected to take place between late 2025 and early 2026. An exact date has not yet been announced.
The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
Judge shoots down Trump DOJ bid to unseal Epstein grand jury notes as ‘diversion' from releasing real Epstein files
The Department of Justice has struck out with all its requests to federal judges to unseal grand jury transcripts and other materials related to Jeffrey Epstein. A judge in New York on Wednesday denied the government's request to unseal the documents, noting that the content of grand jury transcripts in the sex offender's trafficking case 'pales in comparison to the Epstein investigative information and materials' already in the hands of the Justice Department. District Judge Richard Berman, who presided over Epstein's case before he died in his jail cell in 2019, agreed with another judge who last week had called the government's request a 'diversion' tactic to distract from public pressure against Donald Trump's administration to release the so-called Epstein files. 'The government is the logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein file,' Berman wrote on Wednesday. 'By comparison, the instant grand jury motion appears to be a 'diversion' from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the Government's possession,' he added. 'The grand jury testimony is merely a hearsay snippet of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged conduct.' Wednesday's ruling follows a judge's rejection of the Justice Department's request for grand jury documents in the case against Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her conviction on sex trafficking charges tied to Epstein's crimes. In his 31-page opinion on August 11, District Judge Paul Engelmayer said nothing new would be revealed from the documents, and the public would instead 'come away feeling disappointed and misled.' Last month, Florida District Judge Robin Rosenberg said her 'hands are tied' when it comes to laws governing the release of grand jury transcripts, noting that the government's request falls outside the bounds of narrow exceptions. 'The government's request is not to assist with litigation in the New York federal proceedings,' she wrote. 'The government wants the petition to be granted so that it can release evidence to the public at large.'
Reuters
25 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump touts his diplomatic record, but the results are mixed
WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has frequently invoked his success at resolving international conflicts, casting himself as a global peacemaker while his aides and some foreign leaders push for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He has found Russia's war in Ukraine to be far more vexing. Trump has put himself squarely in the middle of the diplomatic attempts to bring peace but has wavered on what he's willing to do to achieve it. Here are some of the foreign disputes Trump has intervened in since beginning his second term in January, using a mix of threats, inducements and the power of his office to shape the behaviors of allies and foes. Trump brought together the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on August 8 to sign a joint declaration pledging to seek peaceful relations between nations that have been at odds since the late 1980s. "I got to know them through trade," Trump said later in a radio interview. "I was dealing with them a little bit and I said, 'Why you guys fighting?' Then I said, 'I'm not going to do a trade deal if you guys are going to fight. It's crazy.'" The two countries had committed to a ceasefire in 2023. In March they said they had agreed on the text of a draft peace agreement, but that deal has not been signed. The White House-brokered declaration falls short of a formal peace treaty that would place legally binding obligations on both sides. One snag is over whether an agreement requires Armenia to revise its constitution. The leaders also struck economic agreements with Washington that granted the U.S. development rights to a strategic transit corridor through southern Armenia. The Trump administration said this would allow for greater exports of energy. In documents released at the time, the corridor was named after Trump. Trump helped bring Thailand to the table for talks after long-simmering tensions with Cambodia spilled over in July into a five-day military conflict, the deadliest fighting there in over a decade. The U.S. president reached out to acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai two days after fighting erupted along a 200-km-long (125 mile) stretch of the border. Trump withheld deals on tariffs with both countries until the conflict ended. Up to that point, Bangkok had rejected third-party mediation and had not responded to offers of help from Malaysia and China, Reuters reporting showed. Trump's intervention helped get Thailand to the table, according to Lim Menghour, a Cambodian government official working on foreign policy. Subsequent talks yielded a fragile agreement to end hostilities, resume direct communications and create a mechanism to implement the ceasefire. Trump went on to impose a 19% tariff on both countries' U.S.-bound exports, lower than he had initially floated. Trump has maintained strong U.S. backing for Israel as it pummels Gaza and tries to uproot Hamas. He has also supported its efforts to disable other Iran-backed groups, including Hezbollah and the Houthi movement, and Tehran itself. The U.S. president is working to expand the Abraham Accords, an initiative from his first term that aims to normalize diplomatic ties between Israel and Arab nations. But a solution to Israeli-Palestinian and Iranian conflicts has eluded Trump, just as it has all U.S. presidents for decades. Washington provides weapons and diplomatic cover to Israel as its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed international condemnation of the humanitarian toll of his military campaign in Gaza. Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal to halt fighting in Gaza in January, after Trump's election but before his inauguration. The deal had been mediated by Egypt and Qatar and also involved personnel from the outgoing Biden and incoming Trump administrations. Israel abandoned the ceasefire in March. Talks toward a new ceasefire collapsed in July. Mediators are trying to revive a U.S.-backed ceasefire plan but Israel is also planning a new, expanded military operation in Gaza. Trump has blamed Hamas for not seeking a reasonable settlement of the conflict and pressured them to do so. Trump initially pursued talks with Tehran over its nuclear program. Israel launched an aerial war on Iran on June 13 and pressed Trump join in. He did on June 22, bombing Iranian nuclear sites. He then pressed Israel and Iran to join a ceasefire that Qatar mediated. The situation remains bitter and unstable. Iran continues to reject U.S. demands that it stop enriching uranium for its nuclear program. And Israel has said it will strike Iran again if it feels threatened. Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement on June 27 under pressure from Trump, raising hopes for the end of fighting that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more this year. The fighting is the latest episode in a decades-old conflict with roots in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Rwanda sent thousands of soldiers over the border, according to analysts, to support M23 rebels who seized eastern Congo's two largest cities and lucrative mining areas earlier this year. Rwanda denies helping M23. In February, a Congolese senator contacted U.S. officials to pitch a minerals-for-security deal. Then, in March, Qatar brokered a surprise sit-down between Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda's Paul Kagame during which the two leaders called for a ceasefire. Qatar has also brokered talks between Congo and M23, but the two sides are yet to agree on a peace deal and violence continues. At the White House, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told Trump that past deals had not been implemented and urged Trump to stay engaged. Trump warned of "very severe penalties, financial and otherwise" if the agreement is violated. U.S. officials worried conflict could spiral out of control when nuclear-armed India and Pakistan clashed in May following an attack in India that Delhi blamed on Islamabad. Consulting with Trump, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance pushed Indian and Pakistani officials to de-escalate the situation. A ceasefire was announced on May 10 after four days of fighting. But it addresses few of the issues that have divided India and Pakistan, which have fought three major wars since their independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. Days after the ceasefire, Trump said he used the threat of cutting trade with the countries to secure the deal. India disputed that U.S. pressure led to the ceasefire and that trade was a factor. Egypt and Ethiopia have a long dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Cairo regards as a national security issue and worries will threaten its Nile River water supplies. "We're working on that one problem, but it's going to get solved," Trump said in July. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt later included Egypt and Ethiopia in a list of conflicts that "the president has now ended." It's unclear what Trump is doing on the issue. In public statements, he has largely echoed Cairo's concerns, and some of his statements have been disputed by Ethiopia. Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has vowed to open the dam in September over the objections of both Sudan and Egypt. Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who welcomed Trump's comments on the issue, has vowed to protect his own country's interests. Kosovo and Serbia still have tense relations nearly five years after agreements Trump brokered with both during his first term in office to work on their economic ties. Without providing evidence, Trump said in June he "stopped" war between the countries during his first term and that "I will fix it, again," in his second. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, almost a decade after NATO bombed Serb forces to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians from the region during a 1998-1999 counter-insurgency war. But Serbia still regards Kosovo as an integral part of its territory. The countries have signed no peace deal. Kosovo's prime minister Albin Kurti has sought to extend government control over the north, where about 50,000 ethnic Serbs live, many of whom refuse to recognize Kosovo's independence. Kosovo's President Vjosa Osmani said in July that "the last few weeks" Trump had prevented further escalation in the region. She did not elaborate, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic denied that any escalation had been forthcoming. Trump, who said during the 2024 presidential campaign that he could solve the war in Ukraine in one day, has so far been unable to end the 3-1/2-year-old conflict that analysts say has left more than 1 million people dead or wounded. "I thought this was going to be one of the easier ones," Trump said on August 18. "It's actually one of the most difficult." Trump's views on how to best bring peace have swung from calling for a ceasefire to saying a deal could still be worked out while the fighting continued. He has threatened tariffs and sanctions against Putin, but then backed off them again after an Alaska summit where the two leaders appeared before backdrops that said "Pursuing Peace." Trump, who has sometimes criticized and sometimes supported Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, this week said the United States would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal. He subsequently said he had ruled out putting U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine, but the U.S. might provide air support to help end the hostilities. Europeans have worried that Trump might push Zelenskiy to accept a proposal from Putin that included significant territorial concessions by Kyiv and limited security guarantees from Washington. Despite talk of a possible meeting between Putin and Zelenskiy, there was no let-up in the fighting. Russia this week launched 270 drones and 10 missiles in an overnight attack on Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said, the largest this month. Trump in June vowed to "get the conflict solved with North Korea." The U.S. president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held three summits during Trump's 2017-2021 first term and exchanged a number of letters that Trump called "beautiful," before the unprecedented diplomatic effort broke down over U.S. demands that Kim give up his nuclear weapons. North Korea has surged ahead with more and bigger ballistic missiles, expanded its nuclear weapons facilities, and gained new support from its neighbors in the years since. In his second term Trump has acknowledged that North Korea is a "nuclear power." The White House said in June that Trump would welcome communications again with Kim. It has not responded to reports that Trump's initial efforts at communication with the North Korean leader have been ignored.
