France to Spend Record €413.3 Billion on Defense in Coming Years

The French Senate has approved the military planning bill for 2024-2030, according to French media reports. Over the next seven years, the total defense budget will amount to a record €413.3 billion, which includes €13.3 billion in off-budget expenditures, representing a 40% increase compared to the previous long-term program.

This significant increase is attributed, on one hand, to the supply of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine and the corresponding replenishment of its own stocks, and on the other hand, to the demand agreed upon at the NATO summit in Vilnius, which calls for ally countries to spend at least 2% of GDP on defense.

Taking into account the shortage of munitions that has arisen due to military assistance to Ukraine, the plan allocates €16 billion for ammunition and €5 billion for “air-to-ground” missile systems. At the same time, it has been reported that despite the substantial funding of €268 billion, the armed forces will receive fewer armored vehicles, fighter jets, and warships than previously planned in the last military program.

The budget is designed to support a military and civilian personnel of 275,000 full-time employees (excluding reserves) until 2030. Additionally, the legislation provides for investments in modernizing the army, with €10 billion allocated for innovation, €6 billion for space, €5 billion for drones, and €4 billion for cyber technologies and digitalization.