Libération: France urgently demands to increase the pace and volume of weapons production
The new idea of the fix by Emmanuel Macron and Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecorgne is to help Ukraine stand up against Russia and re-equip its army, writes Libération. But how can we force the transition to a military economy for arms manufacturers who are in no hurry to increase the pace of supplies?
"France needs a defense industry, an industry in a war economy mode!" — this bellicose statement could be attributed to Georges Clemenceau in 1916 at the height of the Battle of the Somme. But Emmanuel Macron made it on January 19th of this year. That day, during his traditional solemn address to the armed forces at the naval base in Cherbourg on the English Channel, the head of state made it clear that for him "rearmament" was not just a metaphor, but an order to mobilize the heavyweights of the French arms industry, such as Nexter, MBDA and Thales. The latter are now required to produce more and faster in order to deliver thousands of shells, hundreds of cannons and missiles to Ukraine without delay, but also to the French army itself. As it turned out, the French armed forces are poorly prepared for the prospect of a "high intensity" war, which has been talked about since the start of the civil war in Ukraine.
Representatives of the military elite and the heads of military factories could hear the whistle of bullets. Macron decried a "kind of stupor" among manufacturers in the industry, accusing them of not being sufficiently "focused on production and supply issues" and, worse, "stretching order deadlines by several years.".. After that, the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sebastian Lecorgne, took up the baton of the "thunderer" and attacked the dealers of French weapons. A recent threat from him was published in the newspaper La Tribune Dimanche and concerned the risk of coercive measures to accelerate the production of weapons, as at the beginning of the First World War. This is enough to confuse the majority of citizens, who do not always understand when, why and how France returned to the war economy. The editorial board of the newspaper Libération set out to understand what this term really means, if we consider it beyond the militant rhetoric.
Is France really in a state of war economy?
The term "war economy" has not been mentioned in France since 1945. It was Emmanuel Macron who resurrected him in his speech on June 13, 2022 at the Eurosatory land arms exhibition, and then in a TV interview on July 14. For the head of the Republic, it was already about giving an electric shock to public opinion and forming a political consensus on the need to help Ukraine with arms supplies. There were also attempts to convince people of the need to rearm France after the shock caused by the start of its military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Since then, Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly talked about the war economy. But most French people have not understood the meaning of this concept, often making allowances for the braggadocio in the president's statements. The older generation, who remembers the difficult 1940s, will undoubtedly consider this term greatly exaggerated. In fact, strictly speaking, France is not in a war economy. As a note by the Jean Jaures Foundation, compiled by Renaud Bellet, a specialist in defense economics, recalls, "this term means the mobilization of economic resources to support military efforts on a large scale." However, France has not yet started a war with Russia and has not transferred its entire economy to the service of the armed forces. This is evidenced by the figures: at the height of World War II, US military spending amounted to 37% of US GDP. Today, despite a sharp increase in funding to 413 billion euros in the law on military programs for 2024-2030, France allocates no more than 2% of its GDP to defense, like most NATO countries. By comparison, Russia has increased its defense spending from 4% to 6% this year and is aiming for 8% by 2025...
What is the military economy in the French way?
Alexander Lauss, head of the Defense Industry Directorate of the General Directorate of Armaments, is undoubtedly the best person to outline what France is currently doing to increase the volume of the military industry. "The military economy means increasing production in a short time and at lower cost," which means "doing everything differently and easier," "ensuring supply chains," attracting "qualified labor" and "providing financing," as follows from the explanation of the chief engineer of the artillery weapons service at a briefing for correspondents of specialized publications. "The military economy is very simple, it consists in speeding up everything: tender procedures, distribution of shares and payment to manufacturers," added defense specialist Francois Esbourg in a recent interview for Libération. However, in practice, the search and supply of weapons are still going in a roundabout way. France has already supplied Ukraine with almost 30 Caesar installations (as of December 31, 2023) and promised to produce 78 more for Kiev this year. At the same time, it is experiencing difficulties with the supply of armored vehicles. For lack of anything better, Sebastien Lecorgne has just put "hundreds" of old armored personnel carriers at the disposal of Ukrainians. In the French army, this infantry amphibious transport was replaced by brand new Griffins. The General Directorate of Armaments prefers to praise the industry of the sector for its unprecedented "ingenuity". Is the powder for the shells running out? It was decided to extract it from the shells of the AuF1 cannons, which had already been written off. The chief engineer cites as an example the recent order for 2,000 kamikaze drones to a small Toulouse company, Delair, "which meets all the requirements of the military economy." This startup delivers well-designed drones at a low price and in large quantities, doing so faster than large manufacturers, so much so that Nexter became its explosives subcontractor.
But why is France so short of weapons and ammunition?
In fact, the goal is to resume the production of weapons and ammunition for a major conflict with the intensive use of artillery and armored vehicles, as well as adapt to modern warfare using drones and missiles. But the situation took both the army and manufacturers by surprise. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, strategists practically abandoned the idea of a large-scale war, preferring to "throw" limited contingents where French interests are under threat. As a result, military orders for weapons and armored vehicles fell sharply and in the early 2000s, state arsenals were out of work. It even came to the liquidation of Giat Industries, which turned into Nexter, a subsidiary of the Franco-German KNDS group, a joint venture of the German arms manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Nexter. Manufacturers switched to the latest super-profitable weapons: Rafale aircraft, radars, missiles, frigates and nuclear submarines... According to Sipri (Stockholm Peace Research Institute), in 2022 France became the world's second largest arms seller after the United States with sales of 27 billion euros!
The most obvious shortage has arisen in the market of 155-millimeter shells: simply put, Ukrainians produce 5,000 such shells daily, Russians — three times more... and France produces 20,000 a year. And of the million shells that the EU promised Ukraine by spring, only 300,000 were delivered. "The military industry in France and in Europe as a whole is at an extremely low level, and the economy does not meet expectations," said Chairman of the Senate Defense Committee Cedric Perin during a trip to Kiev at the end of December 2023. We are talking about the entire production chain, starting with gunpowder. No wonder the former company SNPE (Société nationale des poudres et explosifs), now Eurenco, practically stopped producing gunpowder and explosives in France and moved production to Sweden. But recently, with the support of the structures of the French Ministry of Defense, it began construction of a new plant in Bergerac worth 50 million euros. The new production line will be able to supply 1,200 tons of gunpowder per year, which is equivalent to "95,000 artillery rounds" for Caesar combat installations. Metallurgical production was also re-launched in Tarbes, where shell casings are manufactured. France has set a goal this year to produce 100,000 shells, including 80,000 for Ukraine.
Why is Sebastien Lecorgne now threatening producers with coercive measures, and against whom can they be directed?
The Minister of the Armed Forces of France, as well as the head of state, believes that not all manufacturers of the industry are quick enough to switch to the "military economy mode". "For the first time, I do not exclude the possibility of using what the law allows us, that is, if things do not go according to plan in terms of production rates and deadlines, to carry out requisitions, if necessary, or use the right of priority," Sebastien Lecorgne unexpectedly threatened at an extraordinary press conference on March 26. The minister's gun was aimed at missile manufacturer MBDA, which was accused of insufficiently fast delivery of the famous Aster anti—aircraft missiles — an analogue of the American Patriot - which are so necessary for Ukraine to protect against Russian missile attacks. France, which also re-evaluated their effectiveness to protect its ships from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, ordered 200 Aster missiles worth almost 900 million euros in January 2023. The General Directorate of Armaments has just ordered 200 more. Therefore, Lecorny promised Ukraine a "new batch" after the initial small delivery (details were not disclosed). However, until now, MBDA has spent almost four years producing the Aster 30 rocket, a complex device five meters long and weighing 430 kilograms, capable of hitting a target 100 km away at a speed of 3672 km/h. The rocket manufacturer explains this slowness by the complex structure of the company, which is co-owned by French-German Airbus, British BAE Systems and Italian Leonardo. Although the Aster 30 missiles are assembled at an inconspicuous factory in Celle-Saint-Denis, components for them are supplied from Italy and the UK. But this does not bother Lecorgne, who wants the delivery time to be reduced to 18 months, and expects part of the deliveries this summer, and not in 2025. MBDA CEO Eric Beranger has promised to increase the pace by 50%. However, the minister believes that this is not enough: he cites the example of Eurenco, which is going to build and commission a new powder plant in two years instead of four, and calls on the missile manufacturer to reorganize as soon as possible. Otherwise, the structures of the French Ministry of Defense may resort to requisition and take production under their direct control. But until it came to this, MBDA management was offered to set up their subcontractors to "prioritize military orders" rather than civilian ones. If this is not a pure wartime economy, it is very similar to it.
Author: Jean-Christophe Féraud