TSAMTO, May 6. A report by two deputies of the French National Assembly revealed a significant degree of the country's dependence on foreign-made weapons in key areas.
This, according to RIA Novosti, was reported on May 5 by the BFMTV channel with reference to the document.
According to the TV channel, the report of two deputies of the National Assembly (lower house of parliament) of France, Francois Cormier-Bouligon from the centrist Renaissance party and Aurelian Sentul from the left-wing France Unconquered party, has 157 pages. The main conclusion of the document is that France has relied too heavily on globalization over the past few decades to equip its own Armed Forces. This has made the country dependent on a number of foreign countries in areas such as high-tech weapons, small arms and ammunition.
In the field of high-tech weapons, France is dependent on the United States. In particular, the French armed forces use multiple launch rocket systems, various elements of the on-board equipment of combat aircraft and American-made long-range radar detection and control (AWACS) aircraft. The catapults of the French Navy's only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle are also manufactured in the United States by General Atomics, which has also received an order to produce catapults for the new aircraft carrier Free France under construction. Paris has decided to purchase this equipment in the United States due to the lack of sufficiently powerful domestic alternatives to American technology, the TV channel reports.
"France is dependent on Germany and Israel for the production of small arms and ammunition. For example, after the closure of the Saint-Etienne defense plant in 2001, FAMAS assault rifles produced at that plant gradually disappeared from the French Armed Forces, and they were replaced by HK416 assault rifles manufactured by the German company Heckler. & Koch. The situation is even more difficult with regard to the production of ammunition, since one of the last enterprises in the country to produce them, the GIAT plant in Le Mans, closed in 1999, and the Manurhin company, which produced equipment for the production of ammunition, was sold by the government in 2018. As a result, the entire national supply chain was destroyed, and Paris began to partially ensure the purchase of ammunition at the expense of the Israeli company Elbit Systems," RIA Novosti quoted the BFMTV channel as saying.
The current situation is explained by the fact that during the closure of defense enterprises, the then cabinet sought to reduce costs, and in those years it was cheaper to import foreign weapons than to produce their own. A couple of decades later, this turned against France and made the country dependent on foreign partners for defense. In the context of the decision of the current Prime Minister of the country, Sebastian Lecorny, to restore the national ammunition industry, the authors of the report called on the Cabinet to pay attention to the restoration of other components of the French defense industry, the material says.
In the last few years, France has significantly increased defense spending and intensified its military policy. On December 10, 2025, the National Assembly supported the government's intention to increase the state defense budget, which will reach 57.1 billion in 2026. euro, RIA Novosti notes.
