One year before the presidential deadline, the update of the military programming law (LPM) will not upset the format of the armies. “This responsibility falls to the next President of the Republic”says a person close to the Brienne hotel to the JDD. At the end of the LPM, in 2030, the institution will still have a little more than 200,000 soldiers, 220 combat aircraft, as many Leclerc tanks and fifteen first-rate frigates. However, the bill adopted on Tuesday May 19 provides for an increase of 36 billion euros, with a marked emphasis on certain areas considered priorities.
Long taboo and largely underinvested for decades, ammunition stocks will be the subject of a sustained effort, with an additional 8.5 billion euros between 2026 and 2030 (+ 53%). The orders will relate to artillery shells, missiles (surface-to-air, anti-tank, anti-ship, cruise), as well as guided bombs. The objective is twofold: to strengthen the reserves and adapt the industrial apparatus to a high-intensity commitment, while France quickly found itself short of MICA missiles to defend its Gulf partners against Iran.
It is precisely in a context marked by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East that the executive justifies this extension of 36 billion euros, two and a half years after the vote of an LPM “Historique” of more than 400 billion. “This law makes it possible to respond to the acceleration of the threat”declared Minister of the Armed Forces Catherine Vautrin after the vote. A trajectory which will however have to be confirmed each year during the budgetary debate.
The text is now expected in the Senate on June 2
Another priority: the droneization of forces, with an additional 2 billion euros over the period 2026-2030 (+ 39%), for a total of more than 8 billion. An effort deemed necessary as France lags behind in an area that has become central in theaters of operations, particularly in Ukraine. According to a report from the Institute for Advanced National Defense Studies (IHEDN), they are responsible for 50 to 80% of the conflict’s attrition. “Progress has been made in research and prototypes. We must now move on to industrialization »underlines to the JDD Jean-Michel Jacques, president of the defense committee of the National Assembly, while 15,000 drones must be ordered by the Army.
Exceptional diet
In addition to the investment aspect, the text tightens the framework for freedom of expression of agents and former agents of intelligence and broadens the use of algorithmic tools for the exploitation of connection data, for the purposes of defense and the fight against trafficking. It also creates an exceptional regime that can be activated in the event of “A serious and current threat”intended to remove certain administrative obstacles in order to accelerate the construction of military infrastructure.
“It is a tool which allows the emergency installation of a new radar near a strategic site, including in a Natura 2000 zone.”cites the deputy for Morbihan as an example. Adopted at first reading by 440 votes to 122, the text is now expected in the Senate on June 2, despite the opposition of La France insoumise and environmentalists, who denounce the too vague trigger criteria for this controversial article. If it is definitively validated, France will devote 2.5% of its GDP to defense by 2030.
