President Emmanuel Macron unveils this Friday the guidelines of the future military programming law 2024-2030, placed under the sign of the “transformation of armies” in the context of the war in Ukraine, the Elysee reported on Wednesday.
The Head of State will speak late Friday morning during his wishes to the armies, at the Mont-de-Marsan air base (Landes), while talking about the return to war in Europe, from the Russian invasion to Ukraine on February 24.” it needs to reassure and illuminate the way we defend our interests,” we commented at the Élysée.
Pursue Financial Endeavor
The next LPM promises to continue with the financial effort in defense after a LPM 2019-2025 with a global endowment of 295,000 million euros, which had put an end to years of budget cuts, indicates the environment of President Macron, leaving it to the latter to specify the Amount.
Efforts to modernize the French nuclear deterrent will continue, to which 5.6 billion euros in payment appropriations are dedicated in 2023.
Abroad, it will be the object of “additional investments in the three armies (air, sea, land)”, in order to “have reinforced sovereign forces to be able to give a scratch to those who would like to get away with it.” to our interests”, particularly in Asia-Pacific, where China’s expansionist appetites are worrying, argues the Elysee.
The number of reservists (currently 40,000) will double to reach a ratio of one reservist to two active soldiers. As for the Universal National Service (SNU), Emmanuel Macron’s campaign promise, “we are preparing to generalize it” to all French youth, the Elysée detailed.
Adapt to high intensity
The future LPM will seek to adapt to the risks of a major conflict (“high intensity”), while the war in Ukraine has exposed the weaknesses of the French military system.
“We must all do an introspection in the light of Ukraine,” insists the presidency, citing “the ascendancy on the battlefield, the equipment, the command capacity, logistics and ammunition, secure communications…”.
In the field of capabilities, it will try to fill the gaps in the field of drones and loitering ammunition, widely used in the Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine conflicts, as well as in ground-air defense.
In keeping with Emmanuel Macron’s desire to develop a “war economy”, the LPM will set itself the goal of “having optimized production cycles to meet the needs of armies”, both in terms of ammunition and “to quickly respond to the expectations of a partner”. like Ukraine, stresses the Élysée.
France also plans to strengthen its national emergency echelon designed to respond quickly to crises. This device currently has 5,000 men on alert, which makes it possible to set up an immediate reaction force of 2,300 men, projectable to 3,000 km from France in seven days.
Source: BFM TV
