France plans $53.6 billion boost to rearmament, nuclear deterrent expansion

PARIS – France plans to add a further €36 billion (S$53.6 billion) to its defence spending between now and 2030, under an updated military planning law that expands its nuclear arsenal and boosts missile and drone stocks.

The increase, proposed despite one of the euro zone’s biggest budget deficits, reflects mounting security pressures from wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and growing uncertainty over US commitments to NATO under US President Donald Trump.

The revised 2024-2030 law would lift defence spending to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of the decade from about 2 per cent now, with the annual budget reaching €76.3 billion in 2030, almost double its 2017 level.

“The deep and brutal shift in the balance of international geopolitics forces us to go harder and faster,” Defence Minister Catherine Vautrin wrote in a summary of the Bill issued on April 8. “France has acknowledged the global shift towards enduring and multidimensional conflict.”

Expanding France’s nuclear deterrent

France complies with NATO’s two per cent target but the range of defence commitments it funds is broader than most, from a nuclear arsenal to an aircraft carrier. Meanwhile, it is aiming to cut its budget deficit from around 5 per cent of GDP to the EU ceiling of 3 per cent by 2029.

Central to the defence update is the strengthening of the nuclear deterrent, announced by French President Emmanuel Macron in March when he also opened the door to allowing European partners to host French aircraft on nuclear deterrence missions.

The draft law proposes an increase in the number of nuclear warheads, whilst maintaining nuclear arms spending at about 13 per cent of the overall defence budget.

France spends roughly €5.6 billion a year to maintain its stockpile of 290 submarine- and air-launched weapons – the world’s fourth-largest arsenal.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has highlighted major gaps in NATO allies’ arsenals, shortages that the conflict in the Middle East has compounded. The Bill sharply increases investment in conventional capabilities.

An extra €8.5 billion will be earmarked for rebuilding stocks of artillery shells, air defence interceptors and long‑range missiles.

The draft also emphasises the importance of deep-strike capabilities, with studies launched for a new conventional ballistic missile with a range of up to 2,500km, alongside upgrades to cruise missiles.

Air and missile defences will see additional funding of €1.6 billion to accelerate delivery of SAMP/T NG systems, co-produced with Italy, and expand counter‑drone capabilities on land, at sea and around critical infrastructure.

Drone and robotic warfare will receive another €2 billion, including expanded naval and MALE (medium-altitude, long-endurance) capabilities, with a view to replacing US-made Reaper drones by 2035, as well as robots that dive to the ocean floor.

Highlighting concerns over Europe’s reliance on the US for its security, France also plans to develop an early‑warning system capable of detecting missile launches.

That would include ground‑based radar and a planned European infrared detection satellite by 2035. REUTERS