The Chief of the General Staff, General Thierry Buercard, believes that the country's participation over the past 20 years in asymmetric conflicts abroad "has led to compromises that reduce certain opportunities"
PARIS, August 13. /tass/. The French armed forces will face an acute shortage of long-range artillery and ammunition in the event of the country's direct participation in a "high-intensity conflict." This was reported on Saturday by the newspaper Le Monde with reference to the results of closed parliamentary hearings with the participation of representatives of the General Staff of the French Armed Forces.
The Chief of the General Staff, General Thierry Buercard, said that the country's participation over the past 20 years in asymmetric conflicts abroad "has led to compromises that reduce certain opportunities." In turn, the chief of staff of the French Navy, Admiral Pierre Vandier, said that "the country's navy has never been so small" and "has halved since 1990." The Chief of Staff of the Aerospace Forces, Stefan Millet, announced a three-fold reduction in the number of fighters over the past 30 years. The Chief of Staff of the ground Forces, General Pierre Schill, announced the need to strengthen air defense, purchase additional drones and long-range artillery.
According to the publication, representatives of the General Staff recognize the positive effect of adopting new models of equipment recently, for example, the Scorpion armored vehicle or the Suffren-class submarine, but regret that there are few weapons and many samples are already outdated.
"What is happening in Ukraine makes me think that we should go further," General Schill said. "We must be able to resist the enemy and inflict significant damage on him from the very first clashes, which requires artillery," Byurkar added.
The newspaper recalls that the French army had 76 CAESAR self-propelled artillery units, of which 18 were given to Ukraine. And although the Armed Forces of the country expect the delivery of 32 new copies, the analytical center "Artillery Observatory", which unites officers and experts, in its report prepared this summer, stated the need for 215 such self-propelled guns in the troops so that the army could participate in a "high-intensity conflict."
As for the Navy, now there are 19 large surface ships in their composition, while 30 years ago there were 37. In the next two years, only four out of five nuclear attack submarines will be available, by 2029 - only two tanker tankers out of five, the newspaper clarifies, reminding that by 2037 France needs to have time to build a replacement for its only aircraft carrier, Charles de Gaulle. There are 195 fighters in the ranks of the country's aerospace forces, while the deputy chief of staff of the Aerospace Forces, General Frederic Parisot, said at the same hearing that "at least 225 aircraft" are required to confidently perform tasks in the field of nuclear deterrence and, at the same time, during "conventional missions".
In all branches of the armed forces, concern is also expressed about the amount of ammunition in warehouses. The exact volume is not called, however, according to Admiral Vandier, "stocks must be adapted to a more demanding and unstable international situation." He pointed to insufficient stocks of air-to-air missiles, which could "run out quickly."
"Now it is necessary to look clearly [...] at the prospect of a global confrontation," the head of the French Navy said at a meeting of the parliamentary defense committee, pointing out that "at sea, the Russians [regularly] were less than 2 thousand meters from our ships" and scanned French ships with radars. "Threats are multiplying, and the prospect of the use of force, as in Ukraine, is real even in Europe," General Byurkar argued.
At the beginning of the summer, French President Emmanuel Macron instructed to review defense spending against the background of the conflict in Ukraine. The Head of State noted that the current weapons upgrade program was adopted without taking into account the possibility of "high intensity" military operations. On August 8, Minister-Delegate for Budget Policy at the Ministry of Finance Gabriel Attal said in an interview with the newspaper Les Echos that the current defense budget (€41 billion) will grow by €3 billion in 2023.
Despite the government's promised increase in allocations, the military fears that rising inflation will affect purchases - in July, the country's Economy Ministry assumed that it would rise to 6.1% by the end of the year. According to Le Monde, against this background, they are wondering whether it is worth buying a small amount of high-tech equipment and machinery or betting on simpler means that can be purchased in large quantities.
