STUTTGART, Germany – The French government is proposing a €44 billion ($45 billion) budget for its military in 2023, including a €3 billion ($3 billion) increase over last year’s budget.
Newly appointed Minister of Defense Sébastien Lecornu revealed the proposed funding numbers during a July 7 hearing before the Defense Committee of France’s National Assembly. If enacted, the increase would be nearly twice as much as France had previously committed to boosting its year-over-year budget in the last two years.
In pitching the funding increase, Lecornu referenced President Emmanuel Macron’s speech at the recent Eurosatory trade conference, in which the newly reelected president declared France had entered a “war economy.”
Lecornu noted that France is in “a delicate situation” when it comes to the ongoing war in Ukraine, and that the support Paris is providing to Kiev in its self-defense has prompted several updates to the budget. The military will need to replenish munitions and equipment that have been sent to Ukraine, along with fighter jets that have been exported to nations such as Greece.
The government is also looking to fund major modernization efforts such as the army’s Scorpion program, to support ongoing efforts to combat terrorism, and to boost its defense industrial base, he added.
With the hybrid war in Ukraine as a backdrop, France must also work to improve its capabilities in cyber offense, space, and unmanned systems, Lecornu said.
France’s parliament will have a say in the final budget amount, and the Assembly’s defense committee plans to interview additional government leaders as well as industry chiefs in the months to come, said Committee President Thomas Gassilloud. Joël Barre, chief of the military procurement office Direction Générale de L’Armement (DGA), will appear before the committee July 13 in a closed session.
Lawmakers grilled Lecornu on a matter of topics in his first hearing as defense minister. On many lawmakers’ minds was the future of the Future Combat Air System, or FCAS, known in France as the système combat aérien du futur, or SCAF.
Is 3 billion increase really that impressive given how much inflation we have and how depreciated the euro now is?
4 comments
1
STUTTGART, Germany – The French government is proposing a €44 billion ($45 billion) budget for its military in 2023, including a €3 billion ($3 billion) increase over last year’s budget.
Newly appointed Minister of Defense Sébastien Lecornu revealed the proposed funding numbers during a July 7 hearing before the Defense Committee of France’s National Assembly. If enacted, the increase would be nearly twice as much as France had previously committed to boosting its year-over-year budget in the last two years.
In pitching the funding increase, Lecornu referenced President Emmanuel Macron’s speech at the recent Eurosatory trade conference, in which the newly reelected president declared France had entered a “war economy.”
Lecornu noted that France is in “a delicate situation” when it comes to the ongoing war in Ukraine, and that the support Paris is providing to Kiev in its self-defense has prompted several updates to the budget. The military will need to replenish munitions and equipment that have been sent to Ukraine, along with fighter jets that have been exported to nations such as Greece.
The government is also looking to fund major modernization efforts such as the army’s Scorpion program, to support ongoing efforts to combat terrorism, and to boost its defense industrial base, he added.
With the hybrid war in Ukraine as a backdrop, France must also work to improve its capabilities in cyber offense, space, and unmanned systems, Lecornu said.
France’s parliament will have a say in the final budget amount, and the Assembly’s defense committee plans to interview additional government leaders as well as industry chiefs in the months to come, said Committee President Thomas Gassilloud. Joël Barre, chief of the military procurement office Direction Générale de L’Armement (DGA), will appear before the committee July 13 in a closed session.
Lawmakers grilled Lecornu on a matter of topics in his first hearing as defense minister. On many lawmakers’ minds was the future of the Future Combat Air System, or FCAS, known in France as the système combat aérien du futur, or SCAF.
Is 3 billion increase really that impressive given how much inflation we have and how depreciated the euro now is?
With inflation that’s not a boost.
**”THE GERMANS ARE DOING WHAT?!?!?”**