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109 Rafale fighters in service in the Air and Space Force: this is the lowest level in decades, for a power which exports this aircraft to the four corners of the world. The senators decided in committee at the end of May: they demanded thirty additional devices that the government did not want to order, and added billions to the law which plans France’s military spending until 2030. The standoff opens in a public session on June 2.
A LIRE AUSSI
Rafale : l'arme diplomatique à 80 millions d'euros
Fourteen billion that Matignon had not planned
On May 27, 2026, the Senate Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee adopted a substantially modified version of the draft update of the military programming law (LPM) 2024-2030, the text which sets, for six years, the budgets and objectives of the French armies. The project presented by the government provided for 36 billion euros additional appropriations, bringing the overall envelope to 436 billion euros over the period. He was not planning any additional Rafale orders.
The senators added 14 billion euros. The LPM now reaches, in their version, 450 billion euros. The defense effort objective is increased to 2.7% of GDP in 2030, compared to 2.5% in the executive text. Cédric Perrin, president of the commission and architect of these modifications, judged that the initial project was content with “secure previous programming law” – in other words, to renew commitments already made without really increasing military capabilities.
The text was adopted in the National Assembly on May 19, 2026, by 440 votes to 122, a comfortable majority, but without the thirty Rafales. It was in the Senate, whose examination in public session begins on June 2, that the order was added.
109 aircraft in service, and two pilots dead
The Air and Space Force today fields a total of 185 fighter planes, Rafale and Mirage 2000 combined. Among them, 109 Rafale are strictly in operational service. The French Navy has 41 additional Rafale M aircraft, aircraft adapted to take off and land on the aircraft carrier, bringing the total to 150 Rafale fighters for all French forces. These aircraft are flying at a rate 15% higher than their maintenance cycle provides, a sign of a fleet pushed beyond its limits.
On November 6, 2025, General Jérôme Bellanger, Chief of Staff of the Air and Space Force, declared: “Our format must aim not at 185, but at 230 fighter planes. HAS” The 30 Rafales requested by the Senate only fill part of this gap of 45 aircraft.
On August 14, 2024, two Rafales from Saint-Dizier air base 113 collided during an exercise above Meurthe-et-Moselle. Captain Sébastien Mabire and Lieutenant Matthis Laurens were killed. The accident occurred in a fleet under constant stress, where each aircraft is flying well beyond its maintenance schedule.
Twenty for the Air, ten for the Navy
The distribution is set at 20 F4 standard aircraft, the most recent version of the Rafale equipped with improved radar and weapons capabilities, to reinforce the fighter squadrons of the Air and Space Force, and 10 Rafale M for the French Navy, intended to operate from the aircraft carrier. The Senate also demanded the purchase of three additional first-rate frigates, that is to say, seagoing warships capable of engagement in the most intense conflicts.
Sébastien Lecornu, now Prime Minister, himself advocated for this purchase when he was Minister of the Armed Forces. The government he leads is now defending a text that was not there.
Dassault has 233 Rafale to deliver
At the end of 2025, Dassault Aviation’s order book listed 533 Rafale firm orders, including 175 intended for foreign customers. There were 233 aircraft left to be delivered. The production rate has been increased to 4 devices per month.
On April 28, 2025, India signed a contract for 26 Rafale Marine for 6.5 billion euros. In this saturated backlog, 30 additional aircraft ordered by the French state are included behind an already long queue. On what effective date these fighters could be delivered to the French forces, the senatorial text does not specify.
Since 2016, France has sold Rafales to Egypt, Qatar, India and Greece. It itself operates, in its air forces, fewer aircraft than these four countries have ordered in total.
The Hague, 5%, and France at 2.07%
On June 24 and 25, 2025, at the NATO summit in The Hague, the 32 members of the Alliance made a collective commitment: to devote 5% of their GDP to defense and security by 2035, including 3.5% strictly for defense. In 2025, France will devote 2.07% to it. The Senate objective of 2.7% in 2030 does not close the gap.
The French national strategic review, the official document which assesses the threats weighing on the country, explicitly mentions the risk of a “major war of high intensity” in Europe. The senators rely on this framework to justify the scale of the investments requested: resources deemed insufficient would send a signal of weakness at a time when France “not extremely scaryâ€.
Cédric Perrin indicated during the committee work: “We must consider that tomorrow is not in ten years, it is not in five years. Tomorrow is tomorrow. HAS” The question of financing 14 billion additional information remains without a precise answer, no budgetary path having been detailed in a context of degraded public accounts. For senators, the answer is in four words: a «priority question».
