During a visit to the Nexter arms group in Roanne, the Prime Minister confirmed two military orders for 1.8 billion euros.
Prime Minister Jean Castex estimated that “the essential“reindustrialization of France is a “still a long way” corn “a clear course“, Saturday during a visit to the armament group Nexter, in Roanne (Loire), where he confirmed two military orders totaling 1.8 billion euros.
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“Between 1980 and the end of the 2010s, France lost an average of 50,000 industrial jobs per year. Over the past three years, we have recreated 30,000. The road is still long but the course is clear. Heading is essential“, declared the Prime Minister in a speech delivered in the factory of the armament group Nexter in Roanne.
Reindustrializing the country is “a question of economic competitiveness, of employment, which allows unemployment to fall in an extremely spectacular way“, he underlined. The head of government, accompanied by the Minister for the Armed Forces Florence Parly, signed a 600 million euro contract with the manufacturer to develop the artillery system “Caesar NG», for new generation, and acquire 33 copies. These 155 mm truck-mounted guns, available from 2026, are part of the Scorpion Army modernization program.
Renewal of Army equipment
Jean Castex also formalized an order for 1.257 billion euros for 302 Griffon heavy multirole armored vehicles, 88 Jaguar reconnaissance armored vehicles and 54 Mepac, a version of the Griffon on which a 120 mm mortar is mounted. This order is also part of the Scorpion mega-program, with a total cost of 11 billion euros. It is a “complete renewal of the equipment of the Army without precedent” in order to “repair our operational capital“, estimated Jean Castex.
In this context, Jean Castex insisted on “reindustrialization in the Defense sector as in other sectors“, who is “once again become a categorical imperative“. “To this grand design, the military programming law and investments in the defense industry make a decisive contribution.“, he added, welcoming the “true industrial renaissance“from which benefits”our flagship“Nexter in Roanne, with”the creation of 600 jobs over the past four years“.
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President Emmanuel Macron announced last October an investment plan of 30 billion euros over five years as part of a plan “France 2030aimed at developing industrial competitiveness and the technologies of the future andrebuild the terms of a productive French and European independence“.
After the Nexter factory, the Prime Minister enjoyed a walkabout at the market in Charlieu (Loire). “I find you very beautiful… more beautiful than on TV“, launched a retiree. He then completed his trip to the agricultural school in Perreux (Loire) where he spent two and a half hours with around sixty young people aged 15 to 17 who are doing their Universal National Service (SNU) there.