France may have just what DND needs

A phalanx of major French defence firms is lining up to provide Canada with new warships and planes, in hopes of prying a share of the biggest Canadian military hardware bonanza since the Second World War away from U.S. industry heavyweight Lockheed Martin.

In the process the French appear to be offering the Harper government a timely and politically salable off-ramp from its multiyear, multibillion-dollar procurement mess.

What remains to be seen is whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper and cabinet have the wit and wherewithal to seize the opportunity, or whether they will submit, as in the past, to the forces of inertia within the defence department, which perennially favours Lockheed.

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