{"id":1546353,"date":"2022-07-10T06:34:32","date_gmt":"2022-07-10T10:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1546353"},"modified":"2022-07-10T06:34:37","modified_gmt":"2022-07-10T10:34:37","slug":"france-will-request-multibillion-dollar-defense-budget-boost-in-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/france-will-request-multibillion-dollar-defense-budget-boost-in-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"France Will Request Multibillion-Dollar Defense Budget Boost in 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffrance-will-request-multibillion-dollar-defense-budget-boost-in-2023%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1546353&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">STUTTGART, Germany \u2013 The French government is proposing a \u20ac44 billion ($45 billion) budget for its military in 2023, including a \u20ac3 billion ($3 billion) increase over last year\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Newly appointed Minister of Defense S\u00e9bastien Lecornu revealed the proposed funding numbers during a July 7 hearing before the Defense Committee of France\u2019s National Assembly. If enacted, the increase would be nearly twice as much as France had previously committed to boosting its year-over-year budget in the last two years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">In pitching the funding increase, Lecornu referenced President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s speech at the recent Eurosatory trade conference, in which the newly reelected president declared\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/eurosatory\/2022\/06\/13\/macron-petitions-europe-to-support-its-own-defense-industry-amid-new-war-economy\/\"><u>France had entered a \u201cwar economy.\u201d<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Lecornu noted that France is in \u201ca delicate situation\u201d when it comes to the ongoing war in Ukraine, and that the support Paris is providing to Kiev in its self-defense has prompted several updates to the budget. The military will need to replenish munitions and equipment that have been sent to Ukraine, along with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2022\/01\/19\/greece-boosts-air-force-with-advanced-french-jets\/\"><u>fighter jets that have been exported to nations such as Greece<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">The government is also looking to fund major modernization efforts such as the army\u2019s Scorpion program, to support ongoing efforts to combat terrorism, and to boost its defense industrial base, he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">With the hybrid war in Ukraine as a backdrop, France must also work to improve its capabilities in cyber offense, space, and unmanned systems, Lecornu said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">France\u2019s parliament will have a say in the final budget amount, and the Assembly\u2019s defense committee plans to interview additional government leaders as well as industry chiefs in the months to come, said Committee President Thomas Gassilloud. Jo\u00ebl Barre, chief of the military procurement office Direction G\u00e9n\u00e9rale de L\u2019Armement (DGA), will appear before the committee July 13 in a closed session.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Lawmakers grilled Lecornu on a matter of topics in his first hearing as defense minister. On many lawmakers\u2019 minds was the future of the Future Combat Air System, or FCAS, known in France as the syst\u00e8me combat a\u00e9rien du futur, or SCAF.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">The Franco-German-Spanish program has been at a standstill for months as two of the prime contractors, France\u2019s Dassault and Germany\u2019s Airbus,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2022\/03\/04\/fcas-warplane-program-stalls-as-dassault-and-airbus-fail-to-reach-key-industry-deal\/\"><u>have reached an impasse on workshare agreements<\/u><\/a><i> <\/i>related to the keystone pillar of the program, the next-generation fighter. Indra leads the Spanish industry\u2019s cooperation on FCAS.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Pressed for time, Lecornu commented only briefly on FCAS\u2019 status, assuring lawmakers that the program was active, industry negotiations are ongoing, and that he continues to discuss the program with his German counterpart, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht. The Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), another major joint equipment program between France and Germany, is also ongoing, he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Lecornu told lawmakers that the ministry\u2019s next five-year budget plan \u2013 known as the loi de programmation militaire (LPM) \u2013 will include a strong focus on France\u2019s naval fleet, specifically on its aircraft carriers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">France currently operates one aircraft carrier, the\u00a0Charles de Gaulle, and has launched a program to build a new ship beginning in 2025, which is due to enter service upon the retirement of\u00a0Charles de Gaulle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">The ministry will be discussing the possibility of returning to a two-aircraft carrier model, and will include parliament in those discussions, Lecornu said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Some lawmakers expressed concern about the proposed\u00a0\u20ac3 billion\u00a0budget increase, calling it obsolete and insufficient in the wake of rising inflation and the supplies to Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Lecornu acknowledged their worries, but said that the real question should be regarding the rate of inflation in 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">\u201cAnd about that, I\u2019m not an economist, but there are some optimistic scenarios and some more pessimistic scenarios,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">He pushed back on a lawmaker\u2019s description that the nation\u2019s defense industry was in tatters. \u201cThere is an incredible know-how in France. I believe many, many, many nations dream of having our defense base, our defense industrial and technological base,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\">\u201cThat we need to do better, that we can surely change some things, I\u2019m not saying the contrary,\u201d he continued. \u201cBut to say that our defense apparatus, or that our defense industrial apparatus is in tatters, is just not true.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 jQOUvm body-paragraph body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2021\/09\/22\/next-gen-tech-investments-platform-upgrades-lead-frances-2022-defense-budget\/\"><u>In 2022, the French ministry of defense allocated \u20ac40.9 billion (U.S. $47.9 billion) to its military budget,<\/u><\/a><i> <\/i>a \u20ac1.7 billion increase over the 2021 enacted budget.<\/p>\n<div class=\"default__Wrapper-cy7r53-1 gEopBn\">\n<p class=\"default__BioWrapper-cy7r53-0 jmAmdA a-body2\">Vivienne Machi is a reporter based in Stuttgart, Germany, contributing to Defense News&#8217; European coverage. She previously reported for National Defense Magazine, Defense Daily, Via Satellite, Foreign Policy and the Dayton Daily News. She was named the Defence Media Awards&#8217; best young defense journalist in 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>STUTTGART, Germany \u2013 The French government is proposing a \u20ac44 billion ($45 billion) budget for its military in 2023, including a \u20ac3 billion ($3 billion) increase over last year\u2019s budget.Newly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1547358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1546353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1546353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1547358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1546353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1546353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1546353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}