France, 1.5 billion euros for fighter jets - Macron aims to increase defense autonomy and nuclear force
President Emmanuel Macron said France will order more Rafale fighter jets in the coming years and invest nearly 1.5 billion euros in one of its air bases to equip its squadrons with the latest nuclear missile technology.
Shaken by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and US President Donald Trump's more confrontational stance towards traditional Western allies, European countries are increasing defense spending and seeking to reduce dependence on the United States.
Macron, who has embarked on a doubling of the French defense budget during his two terms in office, has recently set an even higher target, saying the country should increase defense spending to 3-3.5% of economic output from the current 2%.
He has also offered to extend France's nuclear weapons defense to other European countries.
"We didn't wait for 2022 or the tipping point we're seeing now to discover that the world we live in is increasingly dangerous, increasingly insecure, and that this means creating, accumulating and becoming more autonomous," he said.
"I will announce in the coming weeks new investments to go further than what has been done over the last seven years," he told soldiers at one of the country's historic air bases in Luxeuil.
Macron said he had decided to turn the area, known in military circles as the home of American volunteer pilots during World War I, into one of the most advanced bases in its nuclear deterrence program.
The base will host the latest Rafale S5 fighter jets, which will carry the next-generation ASN4G hypersonic nuclear-armed cruise missiles, expected to be operational from 2035 onwards, French officials said.
The French air force will also receive additional Rafale fighter jets manufactured by Dassault, partly to replace the Mirage jets that France has transferred to Ukraine, Macron said.
French officials said the 1.5 billion euros was part of an already approved multi-year military spending plan. It remains unclear how France will finance a massive increase in military spending at a time when it is struggling to reduce its budget deficit.
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