President Emmanuel Macron unveils Friday January 20 the main orientations of the future military programming law 2024-2030, placed under the sign of the
"transformation of the armies"
against the backdrop of the return of war in Europe, since the Russian invasion of the Ukraine almost a year ago.
The Head of State will discuss the new LPM during his wishes to the armies, at 11:45 a.m., at the Mont-de-Marsan air base (Landes).
A long-awaited programmatic text, while the war in Ukraine has highlighted weaknesses in the French military system.
This law, which will be presented to Parliament in March, promises to continue the financial effort in defense after a 2019-2025 LPM of 295 billion euros, which had put an end to years of budget cuts in the armies.
“We are moving from a logic of repair to a logic of transformation of armies.
We must be able to be more efficient and effective
, ”underlines the Elysée.
The Head of State could specify this Friday the amount he intends to devote to defense over the next seven years, which could exceed 400 billion.
A sharp increase in the budget, however, tempered by inflation and the explosion in energy costs.
The war in Ukraine has pushed the most reluctant Europeans to spend more money on their defence.
Germany released 100 billion euros last year to modernize its armies.
Adapt to the risks of major interstate conflict
The new LPM will first and foremost emphasize sovereignty, while France intends to remain a power
"respected for its status as a state endowed with nuclear weapons, engine of European strategic autonomy, exemplary ally in the Euro-Atlantic area, a reliable and credible partner”
, Emmanuel Macron underlined at the beginning of November when presenting the latest national strategic review.
Efforts to modernize French nuclear deterrence – to which 5.6 billion euros in payment appropriations are devoted in 2023 – will be continued.
Cyber capabilities will be
“very significantly enhanced”
to have “top-tier cyber capability”.
The Overseas Territories will be the subject of
"additional investments"
in terms of capacity and manpower, in order to
"have reinforced sovereignty forces to be able to give a claw to those who would like to attack our interests”
, in particular in the Asia-Pacific, where the expansionist aims of China worry, argues the Elysée.
The future LPM will also seek to adapt to the risks of major interstate conflict (“high intensity”), in an increasingly tense geostrategic context.
“We must all carry out an introspection in the light of Ukraine”
, insists the presidency, which wishes
“to adapt our command organization to be able to act in the physical and immaterial fields, to act in joint, like to act in short loop from intelligence to action in an increasingly efficient way"
, as the Kiev army does.
“France is not Ukraine”
On the other hand, warns the Élysée, there is no question of modeling French capacity needs on those of the Ukrainians.
"France is not Ukraine, it does not have the same security interests, no border with Russia, we have nuclear weapons and we belong to the European Union and NATO"
, emphasizes the presidency.
On the other hand, it will be a question of filling the gaps in the field of drones and prowling ammunition, which are widely used in the conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh and in Ukraine.
France also intends to strengthen its ground-to-air defenses and its deep strike capability.
The president should not, however, detail on Friday the capacity objectives of the armies, specifies the Elysée.
In accordance with Emmanuel Macron's desire to develop a
"war economy"
, the LPM will set the objective of
"having production cycles optimized to meet the needs of the armies"
, both in terms of ammunition and
"to respond quickly to expectations of a partner”
like Ukraine, underlines the Elysée.
The executive
"expects the defense industry to make a greater commitment"
to lowering its costs and the maintenance costs of equipment, which will have to be produced more quickly, even if it means being less sophisticated.
Anxious to strengthen the
“moral force”
of the nation, the Head of State finally aims to double the number of reservists, which currently number 40,000.
