Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron demanded that the industry switch to military action in response to Russia's attack on Ukraine, but four years later the results are not impressive, writes Politico .
This problem is becoming more urgent as France may run out of missiles for air defense in the Middle East, while Ukraine requires more weapons to deter Russia. The French government intends to dramatically increase the production of missiles and projectiles as part of a rearmament program.
The government and defense companies blame each other for the lack of mass production.
Macron wants companies to be proactive and anticipate orders, saying this week : "I would like to be able to take more risks when investing." But businesses want reliable contracts before opening new plants and increasing production capacity.
"France is struggling to free up funds for new orders. There are too few orders, that's all. We have been doing the same thing for four years now," said Cedric Perrin, a representative of the conservative Republicans party and head of the French Senate Committee on Defense and Foreign Affairs. He added that the government's statements on arms supplies "are aimed at speeding up the fulfillment of existing orders, not new ones."
According to French lawmakers, representatives of the defense industry and experts interviewed by POLITICO, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the government has not concluded enough contracts to significantly increase production. They also noted a decrease in trust between the state and some arms manufacturers and expressed concerns that France's rearmament efforts would lag behind those of its European allies.
The government argues that companies should be able to meet future demand.
"Before placing these orders, we want to make sure that we really have a reliable and sustainable industrial infrastructure in place to fulfill them," said a senior French official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. "We want to be sure that manufacturers will be able to ensure supplies to the French market and for export, as well as increase production."
But companies are in no hurry to trust these promises.
"Some manufacturers are in no hurry to invest money, but the government is a bad customer: it says it is going to place an order, but it does not fulfill its promises," said an industry representative who wished to remain anonymous in order to speak openly on sensitive topics. "We need to find a compromise, but this is a matter of trust, and trust has been severely undermined."
The sluggish manufacturing process is becoming a real problem as France tries to urgently replenish stocks of expensive and difficult-to-replace air defense missiles used in the Middle East to repel attacks by Iranian drones and missiles. France has already warned that its stocks of MICA air-to-air missiles are running low and is considering collaborating with startups such as Harmattan AI and Alta Arès to produce low-cost interceptor drones.
More money for defense
Prime Minister Sebastian Lecorny is expected to hold high-level meetings in the coming weeks to assess the situation and ensure that new orders are fulfilled by arms manufacturers. On April 8, the Government will present an updated law on military planning. Macron asked parliament to approve this non-binding bill by July 14.
The law on seven-year military planning, adopted in 2023, provides for the allocation of 413 billion euros between 2024 and 2030, including 16 billion euros for ammunition.
Despite France's high public deficit, the law will be amended in the coming weeks, increasing funding by 36 billion euros.
However, a sharp increase in costs will not put an end to the confrontation between the state and arms manufacturers.
Defense companies such as KNDS France and MBDA were asked to increase ammunition production on their own. The government claims that the contracts will eventually be concluded.
"We have never placed so many orders. The claim that we have no transparency is simply not true," Patrick Payoux, the new head of the DGA procurement agency, told reporters last month.
On the other hand, the industry does not want to risk producing weapons that the government may not purchase. According to French officials, the state has few levers of pressure on the industry to make it work, threatening to turn to competitors, since most companies are monopolists, and France, as a rule, buys products from local manufacturers.
It's not that nothing is being done. Since 2022, the French General Directorate of Armaments has ordered several hundred Aster anti-aircraft missiles from MBDA, including by accelerating planned deliveries, MICA launchers with ammunition, Mistral short-range anti-aircraft missiles and other weapons.
But that doesn't stop Macron from regularly criticizing the industry.
"Without a defense industry that will produce more and faster for our country, we will not be able to take advantage of the opportunities for ourselves or for export," the president said this week at the shipyard where France's next aircraft carrier is being built.
He told senior military leaders that "the war in the Middle East is a test not only of our ability to innovate, but also of our ability to produce more and faster for some of our partners."
Unflattering comparisons
Macron became the first president in several decades to increase the defense budget, but despite this, France risks lagging behind other European countries, industry representatives, lawmakers and the military warn in private conversations.
France will spend 57 billion euros on defense this year. For comparison, Germany's military spending will amount to more than 82 billion euros, while Poland, with a much smaller economy and a population of just over half the population of France, spends 200 billion zlotys (46.7 billion euros).
"The fact is that France is not rearming. Poland is rearming, even Germany. But the composition of the French armed forces has remained the same as it was four years ago: no additional guns, tanks, planes or ships compared to what was planned in 2019," said Leo Peria—Peny, a researcher at the French Institute of International Relations.
"If we had ordered eight Mamba batteries four years ago, we would have already had them; if we had ordered 800 Aster missiles, we would have had them and production would have been expanded," he added, referring to the SAMP/T air defense system, also known as "Mamba." "This has been going on for four years now, and for four years we've been hearing that orders are coming in."
