Hollande's `Bus Full of Generals' Helps Beat Germans to Sub Deal
- French effort pays off in bid for $39 billion submarine deal
- German, French governments' approaches to bid differ greatly
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SANDRA FERRER German anti-submarine frigates Emdem (2L) and Bremen (L), French anti-submarine frigates Primauget (2R) and aviso warship ''Commandant L'Herminier'' (R) patrol in the Iroise sea, off the Brittany coast, on May 23, 2013 during a multinational exercise of anti-submarine combat, called Spontex 13, of the Franco-German Naval Force (FNFA) on May 23, 2013. The training of the FNFA, created in 1991, aimed at combining French and German military capacities. AFP PHOTO FRED TANNEAU (Photo credit should read FRED TANNEAU/AFP/Getty Images)
Photographer: Fred Tanneau/AFP via Getty ImagesIt was Anzac Day when President Francois Hollande got a call from Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to tell him that France’s DCNS Group had beaten a bid from Germany to win a defense contract worth A$50 billion ($39 billion).
Hollande relayed the news to his defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, who had travelled to the Somme in northern France to mark the annual day of remembrance for Australian and New Zealand soldiers who served and died in battle. Le Drian was on the former battlefield at 4 a.m. Monday for the beginning of a ceremony that was broadcast live in Australia.