French companies logged orders worth $9.7 billion in 2008, solidifying France's fourth place in the global ranks of arms exporters, the French Defense Ministry said earlier this week.

In 2008, the United States led the estimated $55 billion market with 52.3 percent of sales, followed by Britain with 13.7 percent, Russia with 8.2 percent and France with 7 percent. With a 5 percent share, Israel was the fifth-largest arms exporter.

"A year ago, the question was whether France would hold its position or slip to fifth," Defensenews.com quoted French Defense Ministry spokesman Laurent Teisseire as saying. "We're starting to climb back."

The strong French performance in 2008 is a result of several deals mainly in the aeronautics sector.

It scored orders for the Airbus-made A330 transport tanker from Australia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and sold several of its multinationally produced helicopters: the Eurocopter-made Tiger and Cougar choppers (with Germany) and the NH90 (with Germany, Italy and the Netherlands). Modernization also increased the figures, Defensenews.com reports, citing avionics upgrades for Ukrainian helicopters as well as renovation work on Kuwaiti patrol boats and Colombian frigates. Morocco bought a fleet of FREMM frigates built by Thales.

French companies reduced dependency on sales to the Middle East and North Africa, with new customers in South America and Asia.

Paris has been eager to support its defense companies recently. French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier this month traveled to Brazil, where he lobbied for Dassault's jet fighter plane Rafale, currently a top contender in a multibillion-dollar tender to outfit the Brazilian air force. Brazil has already ordered a fleet of Cougar helicopters and French-made submarines, but the Rafale sale would be a major comeback for the French fighter jet industry.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Dassault sold many of its Mirage jets, but the Rafale has not been able to convince buyers yet. Morocco, usually a reliable customer for France, chose Lockheed Martin's F-16 fighters over the Rafale planes.

Next year could be a big one for the French arms industry: European Aeronautics & Space is in a fierce bidding war with U.S. contractor Boeing over a $35 billion contract for a mid-range tanker for the U.S. Air Force.

Together with Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman, EADS threw its KC-45 tanker into the tender for a contract to outfit the U.S. Air Force with 179 refueling tankers. Boeing is bidding with an altered version of its 767.

Based on the Airbus A330, the KC-45 won the contract in February 2008, but it was overturned four months later by the Government Accountability Office after Boeing challenged the decision. The contract is now up for grabs in 2010.

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