Why would France need a base in the Gulf? Is it to foster stability? Protect an ally? Project power into the fight in Afghanistan? On the surface yes, but according to Aviation Week, the answer may really be none of the above:

France is carving out a permanent base in the United Arab Emirates that will let it boost its support of peacekeeping and security activities in the face of increased unrest -- namely Iran -- in the Persian Gulf.

A welcome spinoff of the agreement, for the French, could be a slate of hefty arms purchases, although these are not part of the accord. Industry executives say the Emirates are looking for helicopters, three or four strategic tankers and air defense and other missile systems valued at 2-3 billion euros ($3 billion - $4.5 billion).

This seems to be a common theme with the French: deployments are used as a means of securing lucrative defense contracts. The most recent example of this I can recall off the top of my head came last spring when the French sent a number of Rafale fighters to Afghanistan after they had been upgraded with a new strike package. The Pentagon has been pleading with NATO allies to commit additional resources to the fight there for years, and finally the French obliged. But, of course, there was an ulterior motive. As Aviation Week reported then:

The focus of the development activity was integrating the 611-lb. GBU-12 (Paveway II) and 720-lb. GBU-22 (Paveway III) laser-guided bombs on the aircraft. The latter has larger control surface and offers more range and maneuverability, but French military officials expect to use both.

So the French wanted to show that their new strike fighter was combat-ready--which would be great for the sales pitch. Now they want a base in the Gulf, and with an estimated presence of just 400 French troops at the base, it seems pretty clear that the there is no security mission here--just a sales mission. The U.S. military does a lot of this kind of thing too, but sometimes it seems like the French military serves no purpose beyond facilitating the export of French weapons.