In France, an increase in the budget of the armed forces "unprecedented" in a tense context

In particular, inflation should slow down the transition to the Rafale in the Air Force. AFP PHOTO / ECPAD

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The draft French Military Programming Law (LPM) 2024-2030, presented this Tuesday, April 4 in the Council of Ministers, provides for "unprecedented" annual increases of 3 to 4 billion euros in the budget of the armed forces, against the backdrop of the return of war in Europe and inflation.

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After years of budgetary scarcity, the rise in power of the armies is recorded. Never has a military programming law benefited from such a high budget: 413 billion. From 2019 to 2030, the budget of the armed forces will have almost doubled, an immediate consequence of the return of war in Europe.

This XXL budget should make it possible to strengthen nuclear deterrence and the ability to deal with a high-intensity conflict, but also to harden armies in new areas of conflict such as cyber, the deep seabed and space. If no military capability will be abandoned, there will be priorities, such as the modernization of long-range artillery, the construction of the next aircraft carrier... It will also be necessary to finance research programmes for the aircraft and tank of the future.

The budget of the armed forces will thus increase by 3.1 billion euros in 2024, then by 3 per year from 2025 to 2027, before "marches" of 4.3 billion per year from 2028, i.e. beyond the current five-year period. A "floor trajectory" to which "it will possibly be necessary to provide additions" depending on the threat, says the Ministry of the Armed Forces, which hopes for an adoption of the LPM by Parliament before July 14.

Minister Sébastien Lecornu also wants to request an additional expenditure of 1.5 billion euros in 2023, in addition to an annual budget of 43.9 billion, in order to counter "operational emergencies", particularly in terms of drones and anti-drones, one of the weaknesses of the French military system revealed by Ukraine, but also to cushion the effects of inflation.

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We cannot say what it will be in four or five years, but it will cut a significant portion of the nominal budgets that are announced. It is a significant effort, but it does not mean that it is opulence in the armies, "says MP Jean-Charles Larssoneur, member of the Defence Committee. Inflation is expected to cut the LPM by 30 billion euros, which will slow down deliveries of new equipment to the army and the transition to the Rafale in the air force.

(

And with AFP)

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