Jean-Yves Le Drian

France on Oct. 13 announced a series of deals worth 10 billion euros ($11.4 billion) with Saudi Arabia, during a visit by Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

"France-Saudi Arabia: 10 billion euros in contracts," he wrote in a tweet.

The deals include contracts and letters of intent between the two countries whose economic and political bonds have been strengthening.

French warplanes carried out a second wave of strikes overnight on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets in Syria, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Oct. 9.

Russia faced mounting calls on Sept.24 to explain its intentions in the Syrian conflict as European diplomats met after Germany's leader said President Bashar al-Assad should be involved in any peace talks.

France will carry out its first air strikes on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadist group in Syria "in the coming weeks," Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Sept.16.
 

The total cost to France of reimbursing Russia for cancelling two warship contracts will be less than 1.2 billion euros, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Aug. 6. 

France's defence minister said on August 6 that "several" countries had expressed an interest in buying its Mistral-class warships, after Paris refused to deliver them to Russia because of the Ukraine crisis.

Italy, France and Germany agreed on May 18 to develop a European drone program for reconnaissance and surveillance, seeking to inject momentum into a proposal first considered in 2013 to reduce reliance on U.S. and Israeli technology. 

Japan and France signed an arms transfer agreement on March 13, paving the way for developing drones and other unmanned equipment together as Japan seeks to play a greater military role internationally.
     

France deployed an aircraft carrier in the Gulf on Feb. 23 as part of the US-led military campaign against the Islamic Stateof Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a defence ministry official said.
      

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Sunday that French fighter jets are expected to arrive in Jordan and join operations against Islamic State (IS) in Iraq.