EADS / Dassault: defensive manoeuvres Tom Enders must be sitting there muttering "Gee, thanks guys." The chief executive of EADS needs no reminder that he is the owner of 46 per cent of Dassault Aviation, the French maker of the Rafale fighter jet. He said last week that EADS wanted to focus "on businesses that we control," and Dassault Aviation is not one of those. So he can file the "formal request" from TCI, which owns 1 per cent of EADS, for a quick sale of the stake in his pending tray. Dassault Aviation is active in two fiercely competitive areas - corporate jets and defence aircraft. Its Falcon private jet business accounted for 70 per cent of first-half 2012 sales; TCI argues, rightly, that the market suffers from overcapacity. Dassault Aviation's defence business is heavily dependent on a contract for Rafale jets from India which was announced 18 months ago but has not yet been closed. Moreover, France has just made a real-terms cut to its defence budget for the next six years, including reducing its orders for Rafale jets from 66 to 26. Much of France's defence industry is in the hands of the Dassault family, which owns half of Dassault Aviation. It is time to invoke the spirit of the late Marcel Dassault to restructure the French defence industry. EADS has a big role to play. Mr Enders used to want to build up EADS's defence business, hence the bid for BAE. So there is an argument that EADS could take full control of Dassault Aviation to add heft to its defence business. But doing so would not bring any US defence business and would replicate Airbus in the private jet market. EADS's Dassault Aviation stake is worth €4bn, based on the market value of the latter's 3 per cent free float. The French state cannot afford to buy it, and a business with declining earnings has limited investor appeal. Realising the value of the stake will be a test of Mr Enders" new-found freedom of action.