Composition of French Armed Forces in 2012 and Top Defense Contractors

According to the French Ministry of Defense, France's current armed forces consist of the following:

• The French military has 328,869 active personnel. The army makes up the largest proportion at 137,248 or about 41.7 percent.
• A total of 18,800 military personnel were stationed outside of France in various parts of the world.

The inventory of the French armed forces includes:

• 7299 armored vehicles
• 391 helicopters
• 273 combat aircraft
• 246 surface-to-air weapon systems
• 75 combat and other support ships

In 2012, the top seven defense contractors in France and their total revenue (including non-military revenue) were:

• Safran at €13.56 billion or $17.66 billion provides navigation systems, optronics, software for submarines, ships, aircraft and soldiers.
• Thales at €14.16 billion or $18.45 billion provides radar systems, secure communications, unmanned aerial vehicles, drones, electronic missile systems.
• Dassault Aviation at €3.94 billion or $5.13 billion provides fighter aircraft such as the Rafale and the Mirage
• EADS at €56.48 billion or $73.58 billion provides NH90 transport and naval helicopters, Tiger attack helicopters, Airbus A400M transport aircraft, Harfang drones, Astrium anti-missile defense systems and other missile systems in cooperation with MBDA
• Nexter at €0.74 billion or $0.96 billion provides Leclerc main battle tanks, VBCI armored vehicles, Caesar wheeled self-propelled guns, Aravis tanks and various munitions.
• DCNS at €2.60 billion or $3.39 billion provides conventional and nuclear-powered submarines, Fremm multi-role frigates, Mistral Landing Platform Helicopter.
• MBDA at €3.0 billion or $3.91 billion provides Meteor ramjet-powered air-to-air missiles, Storm shadow / Scalp cruise missile, Aster surface-to-air missiles, Milan anti-tank missiles.

http://news.yahoo.com/factbox-frances-military-defense-contractors-081206422.html