Recognizing a “different” budgetary situation between the two countries, the Director General for Armaments Patrick Pailloux refuses to “talk about France’s downgrading vis-à-vis Germany”, stressing that our country is “endowed with nuclear weapons”.
While General Fabien Mandon, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, warned at the beginning of June of France’s “disconnect” from Germany, the Director General for Armaments Patrick Pailloux is not of the same opinion.
“I certainly wouldn’t talk about France’s downgrading vis-à-vis Germany,” he says in an interview published in L’Express this Sunday, June 14.
According to Patrick Pailloux, the comparison between the two countries does not hold “in terms of capabilities”, because “France is a country equipped with nuclear weapons”. The head of the DGA, responsible for carrying out arms programs, recognizes a “different” budgetary situation in Germany, which has invested very massively in its defense since Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Germany takes out the check book
General Fabien Mandon was much more alarmist a few days ago, fearing “a striking difference” in the coming years. “If Germany continues at this pace, in five years, the argument according to which we benefit from operational experience and a certain culture will no longer hold. For the Americans, the European reference is gradually becoming Germany,” estimated the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces.
According to a report published last February by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Germany is the fourth country that spends the most on defense in the world, behind the United States, China and Russia. According to this ranking, France is in eighth position. And the update of the military programming law, which must arrive in the joint joint committee, and its additional 36 billion euros by 2030, will not change the format of our armies. The text does not provide for either Rafale or additional frigates.
Another problem is that Franco-German collaborations are in decline. The most striking example concerns the Scaf program (Future Air Combat System) which was to succeed the Rafale in 2040. But this combat aircraft project was buried this week by Berlin.
“The end of the Scaf does not at all sign the end of Franco-German cooperation in matters of defense”, nuance for his part Patrick Pailloux this Sunday.
“In this specific case, we simply did not manage to reach an agreement among the industrialists. However, we cannot build European cooperation without including this aspect,” explains the head of the DGA.
Concerning the Franco-German tank project for the future MGCS, the German arms giant Rheinmetall has mentioned a withdrawal from Paris which would include drastically reducing its financial participation in the budget. These difficulties are not enough to put off the General Directorate for Armaments which plans to “announce projects with Germany soon”.
