France is world's number-four arms exporter

India's selection of the French firm Dassault as the preferred bidder for 126 fighter jets worth an estimated $12 billion (nine billion euros) underlines France's role as one of the world's top exporters of advanced weapons.

Although the French government said sales in 2010 -- the most recent year for which figures are available -- were down 37 percent to the equivalent of 5.12 billion euros, the country remained in fourth position as an arms exporter behind the United States, Russia and Germany.

Over the decade from 2001 to 2010, India was the third-largest purchaser of French arms, behind Saudi Arabia and Brazil and ahead of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to the defence ministry in Paris.

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