All things considered, 2021 was another good year for France’s arms industry. According to the annual report to parliament released in late September by the Ministry of Armed Forces, French corporations sold upward of €11.7 billion worth of weapons and other military-related technology to foreign states.

Bouncing back from a pandemic-induced lull in big-ticket deals, 2021 will go down as the French defense industry’s third-best year on record in terms of exports — after 2015 and 2016, which saw €16.9 billion and €13.9 billion worth of sales, respectively. The Australian government’s September 2021 headline-grabbing rupture of its contract for twelve submarines from the French shipbuilder Naval Group provoked anxiety in Paris over the appeal of French weaponry, and less-than-subtle accusations of American treachery. This year’s report should provide some consolation: 2021’s haul confirms France’s position in third place among global arms exporters, behind the United States and Russia.

Egypt, Greece, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, and India round out the pack of France’s top export clients. Against the backdrop of simmering maritime and diplomatic tensions between Greece and Turkey, the French and Greek governments signed a contract for the sale of three frigates (from the Naval group) for over €3 billion in September 2021. The sale came on the heels of Greece’s January 2021 purchase of eighteen used and new Rafale fighter jets.