Several LR parliamentarians, including the chairman of the Senate Defense Committee, are worried about the level of ammunition stocks and asked on Saturday that France prepare for a long-term conflict, due to the war in Ukraine.
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“
The Russians themselves are starting to struggle on certain ammunition.
All countries face this.
You have to know how to go from peacetime to wartime, we haven't done it for 75 years
, ”said Christian Cambon, chairman of the Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Committee, to CNews-Europe 1. of the Senate.
"
We don't have enough (ammunition) for a very long conflict
," he said.
An “immediate financial effort”
In a letter to the Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly, the deputies Julien Aubert, Bernard Bouley, Claude de Ganay and Laurence Trastour-Isnart underline that France could run out of ammunition "
in just four days of high intensity conflict
".
“
What measures have you taken to prepare our armies?
they ask.
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In a report at the end of February, before the start of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the deputies Patricia Mirallès (LREM) and Jean-Louis Thiériot (LR) already recommended an "
immediate financial effort
" for the reconstitution of stocks of ammunition, which sometimes takes a long time to manufacture.
More generally, the increase in the defense effort must be continued and accentuated, in the face of the risk of major conflict, they pleaded.
A change of times
Emmanuel Macron began in 2017 a sharp rise in defense credits after years of scarcity.
The budget of the Ministry of the Armed Forces will increase again in 2022, to 40.9 billion euros, in accordance with the Military Programming Law (LPM) 2019-2025.
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"
In the space of a month, we have completely changed the era
," argues Christian Cambon.
It is necessary, according to him, that "
all the parties of government undertake to strengthen the training of our armed forces
" and to make sure to "
shorten the delivery time
" of ammunition.
