France’s military MoD A study pleads for a “renewal of French artillery”, with 215 CAESAR System and ground-to-air defense capabilities
France’s military MoD A study pleads for a “renewal of French artillery”, with 215 CAESAR System and ground-to-air defense capabilities
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During the parliamentary hearings last fall, the Chief of Staff of the Army [CEMAT], General Pierre Schill, had considered that one of the issues of the next Military Programming Law [LPM] was going to be the rebalancing of the “artillery frame”, paying particular attention to the ground-air defense, which now only relies on MISTRAL missiles [light anti-aircraft transportable missile], supposed to ensure the protection at low altitude of the units engaged in operation.
General Schill had come to this conclusion after the Warfighter 2021 exercise which, organized a few months earlier in the United States, had underlined the importance of artillery in the context of a high-intensity engagement. Indeed, in such a case, a division will be engaged within the framework of a coalition facing an equal enemy. [However], in this type of combat, the attrition carried out by our artillery and the reaction to the enemy artillery are essential, which means that the “needs in artillery capacities of this division are crucial, both for long-range artillery and for that which directly supports units in contact,” he explained.
Since then, the battles that are currently taking place in Ukraine have only been able to reinforce this observation… However, after the budget cuts and the reductions in format carried out after the Cold War, the French artillery has become “sample”. And this all the more so since the commitments of recent years, carried out in “permissive” environments, have led to arbitrations that some are now tempted to call into question, such as, for example, the transfer of medium air-ground systems Range / Terrestrial [SAMP/T or “Mamba”] to the Air & Space Force [AAE].
At the EuroSatory 22 land armament fair in June, President Macron indicated that he had asked Sébastien Lecornu, the Minister of the Armed Forces and General Thierry Burkhard, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces [CEMA] to reassess the current LPM 2019-25 “in the light of the geopolitical context”. And to add: “This work will give rise […] to new planning and long-term, clear and strong investment”, in particular to “consolidate our complete army model. »
Backed by the National Artillery Federation [FNA] and bringing together 2S generals, former officers who served in this army and qualified “external” personalities, the Artillery Observatory has just carried out a short study in which it assesses the needs of the Army in this area, with regard to the war in Ukraine.
That’s gonna cost a lot of money. I know there are plans to also increase production lines, but it will also take us at least a few years to reach the level suggested in terms of equipment. With the clusterfuck that are our politics, I’m not sure there will be a will for that.
My biggest fear is that military budget discussion become heavily politicized where the radical left/far-right opposes it on the ground that there is nothing to fear from Russia and that it’s credits taken away from other programs.