With France’s Penetration Into the Saudi Army, What Is Le Drian Doing Next to MBS

The appointment of a former French minister as an advisor to a Saudi company operating in the defense sector, close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, raised questions about the nature of the escalating military relations between Riyadh and Paris.

In recent years, French President Emmanuel Macron has taken advantage of the international isolation imposed on bin Salman, following the exposure of his role in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, to achieve many gains.

At the forefront of these gains is the penetration of the defense and military sector and the signing of billions of dollars’ worth of arms deals in Saudi Arabia, which has been launching a futile war for years in its southern neighbor, Yemen.

 

Le Drian

On December 18, 2022, Intelligence Online revealed former French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s appointment as an advisor to the Saudi defense sector.

The French newspaper stated that Le Drian would work as a consultant in the Saudi defense contracting company Scopa Industries, a prominent military company in Saudi Arabia owned by the Ajlan & Brothers Holding Group (ABHG).

The company was established in March 2022. It contributes directly to the “Saudi Vision 2030” by establishing local military industries, the modernization of the Saudi armed forces, and access to the global defense and security market in partnership with major international companies.

Intelligence Online stated that this appointment comes after Le Drian, 75, retired from political work in May 2022 and will contribute to strengthening the rapprochement between Paris and Riyadh in the defense sector.

Le Drian served as Minister of Defense in France between 2012 and 2017, and he also held the position of Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 2017 and 2022.

The French newspaper reported that Scopa’s appointment to Le Drian as a consultant in the Saudi defense sector came at a sensitive stage for French manufacturers, and it will try to overcome the loss of the French maritime group.

It revealed that Le Drian did not appear to the public after leaving politics only once, on November 14, 2022, in Abu Dhabi during the Dubai Dialogue Forum, but he preferred that his current destination be to the Saudi defense sector.

 

Forever Existence

To strengthen cooperation between the two countries, Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman received, on December 21, a phone call from French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu.

During the call, they reviewed the relations between the two countries and discussed cooperation and joint coordination in the military and defense field.

In early January 2020, the French presence, rooted in the Saudi defense sector, emerged as a competitor to the rest of the international powers that supply the Saudi army with weapons and defense systems.

At that time, the French armed forces deployed a radar system on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, according to Reuters.

The agency quoted French officials as saying: “A radar system as part of the Jaguar Task Force mission had been deployed on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia facing the Gulf.”

This publication came after attacks on the Saudi oil giant Aramco plants, carried out by the Iran-backed Houthi group.

At the time, President Emmanuel Macron said in a speech to the French army: “In the Arabian Peninsula and Arab-Persian Gulf, where tensions are mounting, we have deployed in record time the Jaguar Task Force, which contributes to reassuring the Saudi kingdom.”

Defense systems were not the only exhibition of military cooperation between the two regimes, as Paris provided Riyadh with advanced offensive weapons, which the latter used in its war inside Yemen, and this was revealed by leaked secret defense documents.

On September 25, 2018, DISCLOSE, a non-profit newsroom and NGO of investigative journalism, revealed that it had obtained 15 leaked documents labeled “Confidentiel Défense,” prepared by officers from the Military Intelligence Directorate.

It stated that these confidential documents were sent to Macron, Defense Minister Florence Parly, and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian during a session about the war in Yemen held on October 3, 2018, at the Elysée Palace.

Disclose stated that the documents contain tables and maps that reveal for the first time what the French government is trying to hide from citizens, namely the detailed list of French weapons used in the Yemen war.

It was also reported that the weapons used are Leclerc tanks, arrow missiles, Mirage 2000-9 fighters, COBRA radar, Aravis armored vehicles, Cougar and Dauphin helicopters, and CAESAR cannons.

This reinforced the fact that French arms deals are diverse, numerous, and of great importance, as previously confirmed by French media.

Although Macron tried to deny his country’s involvement in the Yemeni war and the human rights violations, his advanced relationship with the Saudi crown prince reinforced the idea of the noticeable French incursion into the kingdom’s affairs, especially the military sector.

 

Dirty Deals

Arms deals are among the most prominent plans of Macron that govern his relationship with bin Salman. Although some countries, such as Germany, have banned the export of their weapons to the kingdom due to the Yemen war, Paris was in all the time. On May 9, 2019, the French Ministry of Defense announced its approval of a big arms deal for Saudi Arabia.

In the same year, a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) indicated that Paris’ arms sales to Riyadh increased by 50 percent.

On October 11, 2019, Sputnik confirmed that France and Saudi Arabia are working continuously to sign agreements for arms deals.

France has started a new strategy to export arms to Saudi Arabia and has signed many contracts with French companies specialized in manufacturing defense systems.

In 2019, France alone signed about 47 contracts to export ammunition to Saudi Arabia. Among the most important French weapons supplied to the kingdom were torpedoes, missiles, guided missiles, and other explosive materials.

The total deal price was €1 billion, and in the following year, 2020, these deals jumped and multiplied by 40 percent.

On September 29, 2022, the French interministerial commission for the study of exports of war materials (CIEEMG) revealed that between 2015 and 2021, the French government delivered military equipment, ammunition, and maintenance services worth about 9 billion euros to Saudi Arabia.