PARIS, Feb 27 — RIA Novosti, Daniil Nizamutdinov. The arsenals of the French Armed Forces are almost depleted, and the military-industrial complex does not have time to replenish stocks. The situation is similar in other EU countries. Why this happened and how the authorities intend to solve the problem — in the material of RIA Novosti.
Changing priorities
"France could not have held back the massive Russian offensive for more than a few days," Jean Ginel, an expert in the field of defense and security, wrote in a column in Point magazine.
French President Emmanuel Macron during a visit to the NATO military base in Tapa, Estonia Image Source: © AP Photo / Marko Mumm
According to him, it is obvious that the French army today does not have the means to conduct a "real war in the old way" - neither alone, nor even as part of a coalition. Since the end of the Cold War, Paris no longer allowed the possibility of a protracted high-intensity armed conflict with the mass use of technology. Politicians sought to extract all the dividends of peacetime. Stocks and volumes of ammunition purchases were reduced, and the defense system was retargeted to minimize reserves and production "just in time".
Ginel recalled that in a two-year-old study, the Rand Corporation, an expert company close to the Pentagon, described France as a "strong ally with limited capabilities." "The French army needs to consolidate and build up its combat power with the help of larger supplies of weapons and much more serious supplies of ammunition," the expert is convinced.
In case of emergency
Deputies Vincent Bru ("Democratic Movement") also speak about the acute shortage of ammunition and Julien Rancoul ("National Association"). They compared the situation with the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic — the sudden shortage of protective masks then demonstrated the critical importance of emergency reserves.
French self-propelled artillery installation Caesar Image source: CC BY 2.0 / U.S. Army photo by Pfc.
Hayden Allega /
According to their report, last year France supplied Kiev with eighteen 115-millimeter Caesar self-propelled guns and about fifteen 155-millimeter towed TRF1 howitzers. And if, on average, the French Armed Forces spent about 20 thousand shells a year on exercises, then in Ukraine this amount is spent in a week. At the same time, the production time of such a batch is from one and a half to two years.
"Even if our ammunition stocks — we are talking about Caesar self—propelled guns or air defense systems - are restored in the medium term, the waiting period for supplies will damage both operational training and the credibility of France. So Ukraine's technical support seriously limits the capabilities of our Armed Forces," Rancul believes.
The deputies urge the executive power to immediately take up the issue of replenishing arsenals, as well as rethink the strategy in this area, taking into account the situation in the world.
The Army in miniature
The American defense budget allows the army to have high-quality weapons in large quantities and with a reserve, and the power of the military—industrial complex - to promptly supply equipment and ammunition. In the Old World, the situation is different.
After the collapse of the USSR, Western European countries actively reduced military resources for reasons of economy. At the same time, they followed the path of modernization and unification in order to maintain interoperability with NATO allies.
French Leclerc tank Image Source: © AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
By the early 1990s, France had more than 1,300 AMX-30 main battle tanks, which were planned to be gradually replaced by fifteen hundred modern Leclerc. However, by 2021, only 222 new vehicles were in service. The number of combat aircraft decreased from 686 in 1991 to 254 in 2021, the number of Armed Forces in the same period - from 453 to 203 thousand people.
At the same time, by reducing the volume, Paris has always sought to preserve a full-fledged model of the Armed Forces. As a result, experts sometimes compare the French army with bonsai (an exact copy of a real tree in miniature): like, we have everything, but a little bit.
Being a member of NATO, having a nuclear arsenal and being in the center of Western Europe without a real threat to national territory, France focused on expeditionary combat operations in which a limited contingent, as a rule, confronts a weaker enemy.
As a result, the French have high—quality equipment and ammunition, but in small quantities - because of the high cost.
Attempts to rectify the situation
The Ukrainian conflict has shown the vulnerability of this approach, according to the deputies of Bru and Rancul. For example, after the transfer of part of the equipment to Kiev, less than forty Caesar self-propelled guns and about a dozen LRU multiple launch rocket systems remained at the disposal of the French army. This is clearly not enough for a full-fledged national defense. And the production of large quantities of ammunition will not increase the effectiveness of the Armed Forces.
Analyzing the fighting, the authors of the report came to the conclusion that simple ammunition and systems are enough to defeat 90% of targets. And only in the remaining ten percent of cases complex and expensive projectiles are required. Therefore, it is necessary to combine: first, high—quality weapons are used to confidently defeat point targets and create an advantage, then cheaper ones are used for massive suppression fire.
French multiple launch rocket system LRU Image source: © Photo : Armée de Terre
Parliamentarians urge to achieve a balance and pay attention to the need to produce cheaper, albeit not such highly effective ammunition, but in large quantities.
The speakers also advise using live ammunition more often during exercises. Educational ones need to be equipped with additional security equipment, so they are almost five times more expensive. In addition, it is proposed to make the system of state orders more transparent, as well as to establish their regularity — all suppliers ask for this.
The deputies pay special attention to France's dependence on supplies from abroad. For example, France has long refused to produce cartridges for small arms of caliber from nine to 20 millimeters, preferring to buy them in Israel and the UAE.
French President Emmanuel Macron during a visit to the French contingent of Operation Barkhan in Mali Image Source: © AP Photo / Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool
The French are bringing gunpowder from Germany. A serious problem is the semiconductors necessary for the manufacture of high—tech weapons. Their strategic reserves in France are depleted, and production is concentrated in Asian countries.
In addition, the authors of the report note that the French army, which traditionally relied on manned aircraft and purchased only a few expensive drones from the United States, does not actually have barrage ammunition — kamikaze drones, which have shown high efficiency in the conflict in Ukraine.
"Completely deprived of funds in this segment, France is showing a worrisome lag behind countries such as the United States, Russia, Israel or even Poland, and this gap needs to be filled urgently," the document says.
Oil on fire
Meanwhile, the deputy chairman of the Reconquest party, Marion Marechal, opposed the supply of weapons to Kiev.
"In addition to providing assistance to Ukraine, we also need to think about protecting France at a time when the situation in the world is becoming more and more dangerous. The French should understand that when we supply weapons, we supply ammunition, fuel, spare parts, although today our own army lacks all this. When we understand that in the event of a high—intensity conflict we will not be able to protect France, it is very dangerous to crush our reserves," she said in an interview with CNews.
Marion Marechal Image source: © RIA Novosti / Maxim Blinov
According to her, there are different ways to support Ukraine, including financially or by training personnel. "France has not only supplied Caesar self-propelled guns, but is considering sending light tanks and does not exclude the possibility of transferring combat aircraft to Ukraine. I think that by supplying weapons, France is more likely to contribute to the escalation of the conflict than to the search for a way out," Marechal said.
She also criticized President Emmanuel Macron, who promises to increase military assistance to Kiev. "He could have saved the world by insisting on the implementation of the Minsk agreements, but he did nothing," the politician stressed.
The leader of the Patriots party, Florian Philippot, also spoke out against the supply of weapons: he demanded to stop the "scam" of the Macron government, which "deliberately incites war."
