diff --git a/tools/export/iar/__init__.py b/tools/export/iar/__init__.py
index 88bc695d54..3951d915cd 100644
--- a/tools/export/iar/__init__.py
+++ b/tools/export/iar/__init__.py
@@ -89,16 +89,15 @@ class IAR(Exporter):
                self.resources.c_sources + self.resources.cpp_sources + \
                self.resources.objects + self.resources.libraries
         flags = self.flags
-        flags['c_flags'] = list(set(flags['common_flags']
+        c_flags = list(set(flags['common_flags']
                                     + flags['c_flags']
                                     + flags['cxx_flags']))
-        if '--vla' in flags['c_flags']:
-            flags['c_flags'].remove('--vla')
-        if '--no_static_destruction' in flags['c_flags']:
-            flags['c_flags'].remove('--no_static_destruction')
-        #Optimizations
-        if '-Oh' in flags['c_flags']:
-            flags['c_flags'].remove('-Oh')
+        # Flags set in template to be set by user in IDE
+        template = ["--vla", "--no_static_destruction"]
+        # Flag invalid if set in template
+        # Optimizations are also set in template
+        invalid_flag = lambda x: x in template or re.match("-O(\d|time|n)", x)
+        flags['c_flags'] = [flag for flag in c_flags if not invalid_flag(flag)]
 
         try:
             debugger = DeviceCMSIS(self.target).debug.replace('-','').upper()
diff --git a/tools/export/uvision/__init__.py b/tools/export/uvision/__init__.py
index a6dd2ef395..b26a7a13ea 100644
--- a/tools/export/uvision/__init__.py
+++ b/tools/export/uvision/__init__.py
@@ -155,27 +155,19 @@ class Uvision(Exporter):
     def format_flags(self):
         """Format toolchain flags for Uvision"""
         flags = copy.deepcopy(self.flags)
+        # to be preprocessed with armcc
         asm_flag_string = '--cpreproc --cpreproc_opts=-D__ASSERT_MSG,' + \
                           ",".join(flags['asm_flags'])
-        # asm flags only, common are not valid within uvision project,
-        # they are armcc specific
         flags['asm_flags'] = asm_flag_string
-        # cxx flags included, as uvision have them all in one tab
-        flags['c_flags'] = list(set(['-D__ASSERT_MSG']
-                                        + flags['common_flags']
-                                        + flags['c_flags']
-                                        + flags['cxx_flags']))
-        # not compatible with c99 flag set in the template
-        try: flags['c_flags'].remove("--c99")
-        except ValueError: pass
-        # cpp is not required as it's implicit for cpp files
-        try: flags['c_flags'].remove("--cpp")
-        except ValueError: pass
-        # we want no-vla for only cxx, but it's also applied for C in IDE,
-        #  thus we remove it
-        try: flags['c_flags'].remove("--no_vla")
-        except ValueError: pass
-        flags['c_flags'] =" ".join(flags['c_flags'])
+        # All non-asm flags are in one template field
+        c_flags = list(set(flags['c_flags'] + flags['cxx_flags'] +flags['common_flags']))
+        # These flags are in template to be set by user i n IDE
+        template = ["--no_vla", "--cpp", "--c99"]
+        # Flag is invalid if set in template
+        # Optimizations are also set in the template
+        invalid_flag = lambda x: x in template or re.match("-O(\d|time)", x) 
+        flags['c_flags'] = [flag for flag in c_flags if not invalid_flag(flag)]
+        flags['c_flags'] = " ".join(flags['c_flags'])
         return flags
 
     def format_src(self, srcs):
diff --git a/tools/export/uvision/uvision.tmpl b/tools/export/uvision/uvision.tmpl
index 9093703ca6..a27c39f8cb 100644
--- a/tools/export/uvision/uvision.tmpl
+++ b/tools/export/uvision/uvision.tmpl
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@
           </ArmAdsMisc>
           <Cads>
             <interw>0</interw>
-            <Optim>2</Optim>
+            <Optim>1</Optim>
             <oTime>0</oTime>
             <SplitLS>0</SplitLS>
             <OneElfS>0</OneElfS>
diff --git a/tools/options.py b/tools/options.py
index 4821b15cc8..21e7ccad42 100644
--- a/tools/options.py
+++ b/tools/options.py
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ def list_profiles():
     """
     return [fn.replace(".json", "") for fn in listdir(join(dirname(__file__), "profiles")) if fn.endswith(".json")]
 
-def extract_profile(parser, options, toolchain):
+def extract_profile(parser, options, toolchain, fallback="default"):
     """Extract a Toolchain profile from parsed options
 
     Positional arguments:
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ def extract_profile(parser, options, toolchain):
     """
     profile = {'c': [], 'cxx': [], 'ld': [], 'common': [], 'asm': []}
     filenames = options.profile or [join(dirname(__file__), "profiles",
-                                         "default.json")]
+                                         fallback + ".json")]
     for filename in filenames:
         contents = load(open(filename))
         try:
diff --git a/tools/project.py b/tools/project.py
index b2ae09302c..7f70bc94d3 100644
--- a/tools/project.py
+++ b/tools/project.py
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ def main():
     exporter, toolchain_name = get_exporter_toolchain(options.ide)
     if options.mcu not in exporter.TARGETS:
         args_error(parser, "%s not supported by %s"%(options.mcu,options.ide))
-    profile = extract_profile(parser, options, toolchain_name)
+    profile = extract_profile(parser, options, toolchain_name, fallback="debug")
     if options.clean:
         rmtree(BUILD_DIR)
     export(options.mcu, options.ide, build=options.build,