Macron puts local defense firms on notice France may buy European

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron fired a warning shot to the country’s defense industry, saying France’s armed forces could turn to European suppliers if those can deliver equipment faster or more efficiently, as the country seeks to bolster its military.

With global threats increasing, France needs to speed up its rearmament, the president told gathered military personnel in a New Year’s speech at Istres Air Base in southern France.

“To remain free, one must be feared. To be feared, one must be powerful,” Macron said. “And to be powerful in such brutal world, one must act faster and strike harder.”

Macron said Europe needs to develop very long-range strike capability in order to deter Russia, whose Oreskhnik intermediate-range missile puts European countries in range of an attack, and called for bolstering France’s military space assets as well as air defenses.

France famously sticks to a policy of so-called strategic autonomy, buying most of its military kit from local suppliers such as Thales, Safran and Airbus. That has given the country one of Europe’s largest defense industries, but has also fostered skepticism among some partners that French calls for European strategic autonomy are in part self-serving, something Macron’s remarks may address.

France’s Armed Forces Ministry made just over 80% of its supplier payments in 2023 to firms domiciled in France, official data show.

Macron said he needs France’s defense industry to be more adaptable, and warned local defense firms not to consider the French armed forces as captive customers, “because we may seek European solutions if they are faster or more efficient.”

“I need defense manufacturers who also take a more clear-eyed view of the competition, and to whom I say, go faster, go stronger, mass produce, produce lighter, respond to demands,” Macron said. “I will always with our armed forces be at your side, but we also must be more European, and so we must be more European in our own purchases.”

The president repeated a goal for France to accelerate plans to reach a defense budget of €64 billion ($74 billion) in 2030 by three years, to reach that level of spending in 2027 already.

Macron said a planned update of France’s military spending law will increase the budget for the 2026-2030 period by €36 billion in a bid to speed up the country’s rearmament, including an additional €3.5 billion for the defense budget as of 2026.

Priorities will be to increase stocks of all types of ammunition, based on the experience from Ukraine and the Red Sea, as well as boost operational preparation of the armed forces.

France will invest in early warning, combining space-based warning and a system of ground-based radars, and Macron said the effort will include the French-German Joint Early Warning for a European Lookout project.

“But we are building this early warning system for ourselves,” Macron said. “We are building a partnership with the Germans so that we can also offer it to all Europeans, and this is what will also allow us to further consolidate the space dimension of our military strategy.”

France will speed up the use of low-orbit satellite constellations for connectivity and for intelligence gathering, the president said. The goal is to work with Germany, Italy and others to reduce “dependencies on everything that is non-European.” Another area of investment will be “additional means of action” from the ground or in space to protect French space assets.

The additional budget will also allow to continue work on the European Long-range Strike Approach, with Macron saying the project to develop very long-range fires “takes on its full meaning” with Russia’s second use of the Oreskhnik intermediate-range ballistic missile in Ukraine.

“This message is clear, and for all those who think that Russia is not our concern, it must be received loud and clear: We are within range of these missiles,” Macron said.

“If we want to remain credible in this area as well, we Europeans, and particularly France, which has certain technologies at its disposal, must seize upon these new weapons, which will change the situation in the short term,” Macron said. “With our German and British partners in particular, we must move forward with determination on these deep-strike capabilities, capabilities that enhance our credibility and support our nuclear deterrence.”

Macron also called to accelerate production of the SAMP/T air-defense system, which he called more effective than the American Patriot system, saying increased production and deployment of the French-Italian system, including by other European countries, would strengthen strategic autonomy and reduce dependencies.

France will further work on improving the capacity of the armed forces to commit to operations on short notice, including by providing the forces with additional anti-drone and electronic warfare capabilities.

Macron said France’s military model must be modernized, particularly regarding drones for all three branches of of the armed forces, with French drone production falling behind that of some other European countries.

“We must move faster on this, because we have seen the capacity for innovation and acceleration on the Ukrainian battlefield, and let’s be clear, we are behind,” Macron said. “We are behind because the Ukrainians have innovated tremendously, because partners and manufacturers from other nations moved faster than we did, and perhaps treated them with less condescension.”