Defense: industrialists from Nord-Franche-Comté plead to accelerate French rearmament

At a time when Parliament is preparing to examine the updating of the military programming law (the “LPM”), the question of French rearmament is not only being played out in the chambers. It is also played out in the workshops of SMEs and ETIs which every day manufacture components intended for combat planes, missiles or French space programs.

This is the message that GIFAS (French Aeronautical and Space Industries Group), Senator of the Territoire de Belfort Cédric Perrin and the directors of M-Plus Group wanted to convey, during a visit organized on Thursday May 28 to Lachapelle-sous-Rougemont, near Belfort.

In a context marked by the war in Ukraine, the deterioration of the European strategic environment and the rearmament objectives set by NATO, everyone believes that the effort undertaken for several years must still be amplified. Chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Committee, Cédric Perrin judges that the budgetary trajectory proposed by the government remains insufficient in view of the threats identified. “If the alerts launched by the executive on the strategic context are real, then we must take stock of them and rearm ourselves,” affirme Cédric Perrin.

The president of the Senate Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee considers the current budgetary trajectory insufficient. He defends a Defense budget increased to nearly 84 billion euros in 2030, compared to 76.3 billion planned by the government, i.e. an additional effort of 14 billion euros over the period 2027-2030 in order to respond to new threats and the commitments made by France with its allies.

To concretely illustrate these issues, GIFAS chose M-Plus Group, an industrial ETI based in the Territoire de Belfort. The company supplies structural parts, cladding and engine components for several strategic programs, including the Rafale, the A400M, Ariane 6, the Dassault Aviation Falcons and the M51 nuclear missile. HAS” We try to get out of the Paris ring road a little to come and meet our members », explique Frédéric Parisot, délégué général du GIFAS.