Military donations from Paris to Kiev have prompted an air-raid for French industrialists responsible for supplying the French army. However, major plans for equipment had been decided long before the conflict.
A “war economy”. By launching this formula at the Eurosatory defense fair in June 2022, Emmanuel Macron wanted to mobilize in the face of the conflict that seemed to be spreading in Ukraine. “That will force us to invest more for the states and be more demanding of the industrialists [de défense]”, warned the President of the Republic, warning of “profound changes” in this sector.
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Since then, France has supplied a large number of arms, ammunition and military vehicles to its Ukrainian partner. The most recent example: the delivery of long-range Scalp missiles, announced on Tuesday 11 July by Emmanuel Macron of Vilnius (Lithuania). Equipment often withdrawn from French Army stocks and in need of replacement. Enough to fill the order books of many companies – and thus free up large investments.
To better understand the role of the Ukraine conflict in this renewed activity, franceinfo traveled to the national defense industry, already mobilized for large programs, sometimes going back ten years.
Guns, grenades and rockets must be made available urgently
After several months of silence, France has gradually lifted the veil on military aid to Ukraine since February 2022. These deliveries thus concerned Mistral and Milan rockets, manufactured by MBDA; AMX-10 RC light tank planned to be replaced by a new type of tank in the French army. But also Caesar self-propelled guns, 18 of which have already been sent to Ukraine, and another 12 will be delivered by 2024. For these weapons, as for other equipment taken from the army’s inventory, the state applies a so-called “replenishment”. Politics. In short: replace those missing weapons with the nearest unit as soon as possible.
“We are mobilizing significant resources to produce more and faster in order to reduce our delivery times,” explains the Nexter group, which assembles these weapons, whose cost is estimated at 5 million euros per unit, to franceinfo. “Before the war in Ukraine, our industrial plant was sized to produce an average of two Caesars a month. Today we are able to produce four a month, six by the end of the year,” continues a spokesman for the group. By 2024, Nexter is even aiming for the goal of “eight Caesars a month” thanks to halving the production time.
A Ukrainian soldier loads a French-made Caesar self-propelled gun in eastern Ukraine on December 28, 2022. (SAMEER AL-DOUMY / AFP)
For Nexter, the “war economy” mentioned by President Macron requires “effort and risk-taking.” The group announces that it has already invested 150 million euros in building up raw material stocks, purchasing machines and starting production by Caesar “with no client concerned”. “We also recruit and train many operators in key technical areas such as mechanical welding,” explains the manufacturer, which has nine sites in France and three others in Europe.
This renewed activity also affects ammunition supplied in large numbers to Ukraine by France and its European partners. And especially the 155mm shells that Kiev needs against the Russian occupier. In the Hautes-Pyrénées, the Forges de Tarbes have been in full swing for several months and are struggling to meet the need for steel bodies. “To give you an idea, between 5,000 and 7,000 shells are fired in Ukraine every day. Our monthly capacity is currently around 5,000,” director Anthony Cesbron told franceinfo in early June.
While France, through the voice of Army Minister Sébastien Lecornu, announced in an interview with Figaro at the end of March that it intended to “double” and increase its shell shipments to “2,000 units per month”, The Forges de Tarbes are organizing to keep up and to increase their production fivefold in the coming years. “There are no more blacksmith schools in France and we have no choice but to train people in-house,” explained Anthony Cesbron. That’s why we hire people without qualifications, who we train on site.”
An unexpected surge in activity after a “dip”
However, in order to shift gears and meet demand quickly, many defense manufacturers “would have had wiggle room,” General Jean-Marc Duquesne, general delegate of the Grouping of French Land and Air-Land Defense and Security Industries (Gicat), tells franceinfo . “We were in a period of slack, especially in terms of exports,” he specifies, and we were fortunate to have enough staff at our disposal [au début de l’invasion russe de l’Ukraine].”
Jean-Marc Duquesne recalls that after the Covid-19 pandemic, “which led to a shortage of components”, the war in Ukraine created “awareness” for this sector. “Our job now is to do whatever it takes to go from just-in-time logic to inventory logic by identifying the inventory that we need most accurately,” he summarizes.
A French soldier inspects a shipment of Mistral rockets, a model that France has supplied to Ukraine, February 25, 2023 in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne). (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
As Gicat’s General Delegate reminds us, “the defense industry responds to the needs defined by politics”. And the new Military Programming Law 2024-2030, passed by Parliament on Thursday, precisely underscores the strategic importance of stockpiles by earmarking €16 billion for munitions production. A “lesson” from the Ukraine conflict that shows that “the volume of equipment is again becoming a crucial factor, as is durability through stocks and controlled logistics,” according to the report accompanying the draft law.
A sector already fueled by large-scale programs
Before the Ukraine conflict erupted, “the previous military programming law already provided a good axis, allowing manufacturers to hire workers and increase their tariffs,” notes Jean-Marc Duquesne. One of the major plans of the French army is the “Scorpion” program launched at the end of 2014 under the mandate of former President François Hollande, which deals with the “armoured vehicles of the future”.
“Scorpion is the largest program for the army in the last forty years, it is more than important for us,” stresses to franceinfo the company Arquus, which produces in particular the new Griffon and Jaguar vehicles that are part of this program, in association with Nexter and Thales. Between servicing “nearly 20,000 vehicles of all types” in the army and this long-term program, Arquus still has work to do aside from replacing equipment shipped to Ukraine.
An employee at the Nexter factory in Roanne (Loire) works on a Griffon vehicle, July 4, 2023. (OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE / AFP)
Would the French defense industry then have been through the “downturn” for at least the next seven years covered by the new military programming? “We have to remain cautious because we are up against extremely aggressive competitors,” admits General Duquesne, who recalls that these manufacturers are betting Internationally, France is the third largest arms exporter in the world.
There remains one strategic question raised by both the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and military programming: that of autonomy. “Of course we want to develop European partnerships, to work with the Belgians, the Luxembourgers and the Swedes,” assures Jean-Marc Duquesne. But we also have to move in order to regain a certain level of sovereignty and not become dependent.” An example of this policy: by 2025, for the first time in almost fifteen years, explosive powder for 155mm grenades will be produced in France again, with the founding a workshop in Bergerac (Dordogne) by the company Eurenco – whose order books are full. until 2027″.