French Army has recruitment surplus but lacks equipment, deputy chief says

PARIS — The French Army has so many applicants that it has had to slow recruitment, while at the same time lacking hardware in areas ranging from spare parts to deep-fires weaponry and counter-drone defense, said deputy chief of staff Gen. Patrick Justel.

France faces a different challenge from Germany and Poland, which have ample funding for equipment but struggle to attract enough personnel to meet force targets, according to Justel. The French Army has “more than enough” recruitment candidates, and last year declined to recruit the equivalent of a regiment due to budgetary constraints, the deputy chief said in a briefing here on Thursday.

European NATO members have lifted defense budgets following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and as the United States pushes for allies to take on more conventional defense. While many countries including France are expanding reserve forces, Germany and Poland also plan to grow active-duty personnel by tens of thousands in coming years, with measures such as higher pay to make military service more attractive.

“We have completely asymmetrical situations,” Justel said. “I see in Poland and Germany a huge budgetary and industrial effort to acquire weapons. Now, they face enormous personnel difficulties, and having a lot of weaponry without the fighters behind it, well, that remains problematic.”

Germany aims to expand its armed forces to 260,000 active soldiers by 2035 from about 186,000 now, according to a federal law governing Bundeswehr force development, while Poland intends to increase its armed forces to 300,000 from around 210,000 in mid-2025. Meanwhile, France has a force of around 191,000 military personnel and plans to recruit 21,400 active-duty troops in 2026.

Poland has high ambitions to grow its forces, “they have a real sense of urgency, but there are still difficulties recruiting,” Justel said.

The Polish armed forces face intensifying competition for labor in a growing economy, with Poland having the second-lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, RAND wrote in a report last year .

“In terms of human resources, we are in the opposite situation,” Justel said. “This year, we’re already slowing down recruitment because not only are we recruiting better, but we’re retaining people better.”

France has one of the largest youth cohorts in Europe, with those aged 15 to 19 making up 6.2% of the population in 2024, compared with 4.7% for Germany and 5% for Poland. Meanwhile, trust in the armed forces is among the highest in France, with 84% of the French expressing trust compared with 73% of Germans and 76% of Poles, according to a Eurobarometer poll published in May.

“To see the number of young people coming to enlist, and not enlisting just to find a job, they’re joining to serve in combat units and looking to defend their country,” Justel said. “There’s a dynamic in this country, there’s a demographic that makes it possible, and there’s a mindset that makes it possible.”

“When I talk with my foreign counterparts, what strikes me most is the difference in recruitment, in terms of quantity, quality, motivation, and mindset,” Justel said. “Where we’re in the opposite situation is in terms of equipment, we’re not sufficiently equipped to handle a high-intensity conflict.”

The French Army continues to lack spare parts and stockpiles, and has “very significant gaps” in deep fires, ground-to-air defense, counter-drone operations, and electronic warfare, according to Justel. He said France’s two most recent defense-planning laws improved the equipment situation a lot, and the Army’s armored-vehicle modernization is “progressing well,” but more is needed.

Justel said France retains expertise in areas such as electronic warfare but needs to spread those capabilities more broadly across the force. The Army has identified the equivalent of about ten battalions needed to be more effective in areas including command, logistics, deep fires, drones and electronic warfare, he said.

“But there, we’re moving into a change in format, into additional capabilities,” Justel said. “So these are more long-term efforts.”

The deputy commander said France’s force structure means it would be difficult for the country to permanently replace U.S. troops in parts of Europe, with the Army already “very committed” with deployments in Romania and Estonia.

The French Army is instead counting on regular exercises in countries such as Finland rather than permanent basing, to ensure troops are familiar with the terrain, conditions and local friendly forces, and to be able to deploy reinforcements “quickly and effectively” the day they are needed, Justel said.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——法国陆军副总参谋长帕特里克·朱斯特尔将军表示，由于申请人数众多，法国陆军不得不放慢征兵速度，与此同时，从备件到纵深火力武器和反无人机防御等领域的硬件都存在短缺。

据尤斯特尔称，法国面临的挑战与德国和波兰不同。德国和波兰拥有充足的装备资金，但却难以招募到足够的人员来完成部队目标。法国陆军副总参谋长周四在此间举行的新闻发布会上表示，法国陆军的应征者“绰绰有余”，去年由于预算限制，甚至放弃了招募相当于一个团的兵力。

在俄罗斯2022年入侵乌克兰以及美国敦促盟友承担更多常规防御任务之后，欧洲北约成员国纷纷提高了国防预算。包括法国在内的许多国家正在扩充预备役部队，而德国和波兰也计划在未来几年内将现役人员增加数万人，并采取提高薪酬等措施来增强兵役的吸引力。

“我们面临的形势完全不对等，”尤斯特尔说。“我看到波兰和德国投入了巨额预算和工业力量来获取武器。现在，他们面临着巨大的人员短缺问题，拥有大量武器却缺乏相应的作战人员，这仍然是个问题。”

根据德国联邦国防军部队发展法，德国计划到2035年将其武装部队现役士兵人数从目前的约18.6万人扩充至26万人；波兰则计划在2025年中期将其武装部队人数从目前的约21万人增至30万人。与此同时，法国拥有约19.1万名军事人员，并计划在2026年招募2.14万名现役士兵。

尤斯特尔说：“波兰雄心勃勃地想要壮大军队，他们确实有紧迫感，但征兵方面仍然存在困难。”

兰德公司去年在一份报告中写道，随着经济的增长，波兰武装部队面临着日益激烈的劳动力竞争，而波兰的失业率在欧盟中排名第二低。

“在人力资源方面，我们的情况恰恰相反，”贾斯特尔说。“今年，我们已经放慢了招聘速度，因为我们不仅招聘到的人才更多了，而且留住人才的能力也更强了。”

法国拥有欧洲规模最大的青年群体之一，15至19岁人口占总人口的6.2%（预计2024年），而德国和波兰的这一比例分别为4.7%和5%。与此同时，法国民众对军队的信任度也位居世界前列，根据5月份公布的欧洲晴雨表民调显示，84%的法国民众表示信任军队，而德国和波兰的这一比例分别为73%和76%。

“看到这么多年轻人应征入伍，而且他们并非只是为了找份工作，而是为了加入作战部队，保卫自己的国家，”贾斯特尔说。“这个国家有一种独特的氛围，一种人口结构，以及一种思维方式，使得这一切成为可能。”

“当我与外国同行交流时，最令我印象深刻的是征兵方面的差异，包括数量、质量、积极性和心态，”尤斯特尔说。“而我们则处于相反的情况，在装备方面，我们没有足够的装备来应对高强度冲突。”

据尤斯特尔称，法国陆军仍然缺乏备件和库存，在纵深火力、地对空防御、反无人机作战和电子战方面存在“非常明显的差距”。他表示，法国最近两项国防规划法案极大地改善了装备状况，陆军装甲车辆现代化“进展顺利”，但仍需更多努力。

尤斯特尔表示，法国在电子战等领域仍拥有专业技术，但需要将这些能力更广泛地应用于整个军队。他说，陆军已经确定，需要增加相当于约十个营的兵力，才能在指挥、后勤、纵深火力、无人机和电子战等领域发挥更大的作用。

“但是，我们正在转向改变形式，增加更多功能，”贾斯特尔说。“所以这些都是更长远的努力。”

副司令表示，法国的兵力结构意味着该国很难永久取代驻扎在欧洲部分地区的美军，因为法国陆军已经在罗马尼亚和爱沙尼亚部署了“大量兵力”。

尤斯特尔表示，法国陆军并没有选择永久驻扎，而是依靠在芬兰等国进行定期演习，以确保部队熟悉地形、条件和当地友军，并能够在需要时“迅速有效地”部署增援部队。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。