Most of France's Air Fleet Unfit For Combat; The Latest Major NATO Power to Demonstrate an Astonishing Lack of Preparedness for Aerial Warfare

Amid recent reports of poor combat preparedness in the German, British and American air fleets France, has been the fourth major Western NATO power to show to have a similarly low state of preparedness for combat. 56% of all aircraft in the French Air Force have been deemed unfit to fly at any given moment, while others are likely flyable but operating at sub optimal efficiency. France's Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly said in regards to this dismal state of affairs: “If I compare the current situation … of our planes with a car, it is as if I wanted to have a car every morning that works, I would have to own four cars." She noted that a previously bad situation had become much worse. This came despite a €4 billion maintenance budget, more than the GDP of many countries, and a 25% increase in maintenance spending over the past five years. France's inability to operate its relatively small air force effectively despite being one of the world's largest military spenders demonstrates gross inefficiencies in the country's defense sector.

Minister Parly sought to implement wide ranging plans to cut costs and improve the air force's combat readiness. France's current maintenance program is extremely complex, bureaucratic and inefficient. In France can take 30 different contracts to get a single helicopter ready for combat. France's maintenance issues appear to be a symptom of a larger malady affecting leading Western air forces. The U.S. Navy and Marines are also reportedly unable to operate the majority of their fleets, and are forced to resort to 'cannibalizing' aircraft to transfer parts and keep a fraction in service. Indeed, with Western powers themselves responsible for the vast majority of military interventions abroad, the chances of coming under attack themselves are negligible and this may a major cause of low combat readiness.

Where France stands out is that, unlike the United States, U.K., and Germany, the quantify of its pilots and training have not suffered. While British Typhoon pilots have been overwhelmingly bested in combat tests by far inferior fighters such as the Pakistani Air Force's F-16, and the U.S. Navy has found its most capable platforms bested by a number of unsophisticated adversaries such as the second generation F-5 of the Chilean Air Force, France's Air Force continues to perform well in combat testing. Indeed, though its capabilities are relatively limited, French Rafale fighters have managed to best dedicated U.S. air superiority platforms such as the F-15 and F-22 in the air, with the quality of French pilots making up for the discrepancy in the fighters' capabilities which strongly favoured the U.S. While France has maintained a high level of pilot training, to its credit exceeding those of its leading Western allies, its lack of effective maintenance threatens to undermine this achivement.