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.”

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——法国总统马克龙向该国国防工业发出警告，称如果欧洲供应商能够更快或更高效地交付装备，法国武装部队可能会转向欧洲供应商，因为法国正在寻求加强其军事力量。

随着全球威胁的增加，法国需要加快重新武装，总统在法国南部伊斯特尔空军基地向聚集的军人发表新年讲话时说道。

“要想保持自由，就必须令人畏惧。要想令人畏惧，就必须强大，”马克龙说。“而在这样一个残酷的世界里，要想强大，就必须行动更快、打击更猛烈。”

马克龙表示，欧洲需要发展超远程打击能力以威慑俄罗斯，俄罗斯的“奥列什尼克”中程导弹使欧洲国家处于其攻击范围之内。他还呼吁加强法国的军事太空资产和防空能力。

法国一贯奉行所谓的战略自主政策，其大部分军事装备都从泰雷兹、赛峰和空客等本土供应商采购。这使得法国拥有欧洲最大的国防工业之一，但也引发了一些伙伴的质疑，认为法国呼吁欧洲战略自主在某种程度上是出于自身利益，而马克龙的讲话或许正是为了回应这些质疑。

官方数据显示，2023年法国武装部队部向注册地在法国的公司支付了略高于80%的供应商款项。

马克龙表示，他需要法国国防工业更具适应性，并警告当地国防企业不要将法国武装部队视为固定客户，“因为如果欧洲的解决方案更快或更有效，我们可能会寻求欧洲的解决方案。”

马克龙表示：“我需要那些对竞争有更清醒认识的国防制造商，我要对他们说，要更快、更强、大规模生产、生产更轻的产品，并响应市场需求。我将永远与我们的武装部队站在一起，但我们也必须更加欧洲化，因此，我们在采购方面也必须更加欧洲化。”

总统重申了法国的目标，即在三年内加快实现 2030 年国防预算达到 640 亿欧元（740 亿美元）的计划，争取在 2027 年就达到这一支出水平。

马克龙表示，法国计划更新军事开支法，将2026-2030年期间的预算增加360亿欧元，以加快该国的重新武装，其中包括从2026年起为国防预算增加35亿欧元。

优先事项是根据乌克兰和红海的经验，增加各种弹药的储备，并加强武装部队的作战准备。

法国将投资早期预警，将天基预警与地面雷达系统相结合。马克龙表示，这项工作将包括法德联合欧洲预警系统项目。

“但我们正在为自己构建这套预警系统，”马克龙说。“我们正在与德国建立伙伴关系，以便我们也能将其提供给所有欧洲人，这也将使我们能够进一步巩固军事战略中的太空维度。”

法国总统表示，法国将加快利用低轨道卫星星座进行互联互通和情报收集。目标是与德国、意大利和其他国家合作，减少“对非欧洲一切事物的依赖”。另一项投资领域将是“从地面或太空采取更多行动手段”，以保护法国的太空资产。

新增预算还将允许继续推进欧洲远程打击方案，马克龙表示，随着俄罗斯第二次在乌克兰使用“奥列什尼克”中程弹道导弹，这项旨在发展超远程火力的项目“才真正具有意义”。

“这个信息很明确，所有那些认为俄罗斯与我们无关的人都必须清楚地听到：我们就在这些导弹的射程之内，”马克龙说。

马克龙表示：“如果我们想在这个领域保持信誉，我们欧洲人，特别是拥有某些技术的法国，必须抓住这些新型武器，它们将在短期内改变局势。我们必须与德国和英国伙伴一道，坚定地推进这些纵深打击能力的研发，这些能力将增强我们的信誉，并支持我们的核威慑。”

马克龙还呼吁加快生产SAMP/T防空系统，他称该系统比美国的爱国者系统更有效。他表示，增加法意联合研制的SAMP/T防空系统的产量和部署，包括其他欧洲国家也采用该系统，将加强战略自主性并减少依赖性。

法国将进一步努力提高武装部队在短时间内执行作战任务的能力，包括为部队提供额外的反无人机和电子战能力。

马克龙表示，法国的军事模式必须现代化，尤其是在武装部队所有三个军种的无人机方面，因为法国的无人机生产已经落后于其他一些欧洲国家。

“我们必须加快步伐，因为我们在乌克兰战场上看到了创新和加速发展的能力，而且必须明确的是，我们落后了，”马克龙说。“我们落后的原因是乌克兰人取得了巨大的创新成就，其他国家的合作伙伴和制造商行动比我们更快，而且或许对他们更加尊重。”

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。