After long months of discretion and assumed silence on its arms deliveries to Ukraine, in particular linked to its diplomatic posture vis-à-vis Moscow, France has decided to start publicly confronting the other subject in part correlated with this sometimes complicated position to hold in the face of Anglo-Saxon one-upmanship: that of its limited arms stocks. An exit from the woods which was carefully entrusted to Joël Barre, the general delegate for armaments (DGA), within the framework of a hearing in the Senate, on May 4, the report of which was published on May 30.
The subject of stocks of ammunition and spare parts “is one of the two points of difficulty on which we must continue to make progress, in light of the prospects for high-intensity conflicts”, thus admitted, with counted words, Mr. Barre, in front of the parliamentarians. The other subject concerns the “maintenance in operational condition [MCO] », that is to say the availability of equipment, in particular fighter planes. A “first analysis” of this inventory management took place, on April 7, within the framework of a steering committee where “several actions have been decided”revealed Mr. Barre.
During his hearing, the DGA did not make a direct link between the limited quantity of French arms deliveries to Ukraine and this problem of stocks. But, as explained for several months, in veiled terms, a certain number of interlocutors from defense circles, the return of the war in Europe has, de facto, put this taboo subject back on top of the pile within the armies. . A subject to which a parliamentary report had already drawn attention in February, detailing how France would not have the means to hold a high-intensity conflict alone beyond a few days.
cadences of peace
With its relatively delimited front line, the Ukrainian conflict has also shed light on a weak point of France: artillery. A segment that has been particularly neglected in recent years. In general, France has always been keen to preserve a so-called “complete” army model. But, lacking the budget of a country like the United States (around 700 billion dollars, or 655 billion euros, against 40 billion euros for France), this choice results in limiting a certain number of equipment or armaments, and therefore to an army model sometimes qualified as “sample”.
Anxious to give pledges, during his hearing, Mr. Barre nevertheless announced that the “management of ammunition stocks” would be one of “Entries” the update of the military programming law (LPM). This law, which plans military requirements until 2025, is marginally updated each year, generally before the summer. Initially, 7 billion euros were planned for the regeneration of ammunition over the period 2019-2025 and some additional 110 million euros have been redirected from 2021. It remains to be seen how much effort is planned this year: Mr Barre did not specify.
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