The French government on Wednesday presented a proposed update to its military planning bill that would more than double its military budget by the end of the decade.

The government now plans to spend an additional €36 billion on the military over the remainder of the decade, bringing the 2030 annual budget to €76.3 billion – more than double its 2017 level of €32.2 billion. The Military Planning Law (MLP), adopted in 2023, had originally earmarked €413 billion to meet the army’s needs for the 2024–30 period.

This would bring France’s defence spending to 2.5% of GDP in 2030. NATO allies agreed last year to invest 3.5% of their GDP in core defence by 2035.

Ammunition, space, and long-range ballistic missiles

The update aims to plug the country’s most urgent needs: ammunition, counter-drone measures, intelligence, and cybersecurity.

The biggest share of the spending jump – €8.5 billion – will go towards significantly increasing the country’s ammunition production, ranging from artillery shells and anti-tank ammunition to surface-to-air missiles.

“Factories are our primary weapon,” Defence Minister Catherine Vautrin told lawmakers, drawing lessons learned from the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East where ammunition consumption is enormous.

Another €3.9 billion is earmarked to develop space capabilities, with space now a “fully-fledged area of conflict,” according to the text. The government intends to develop space intelligence and communication with new satellites, which the minister hailed as a “major issue” of sovereignty. Europeans are heavily relying on US space assets for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).

A further €2 billion would meanwhile be spent to equip each combat unit with drones. “It is part of each soldier’s individual equipment,” the minister said, after highlighting the role of drones in warding off Russia’s attacks in Ukraine.

Air and missile defences are to be boosted with an extra €1.6 billion to accelerate delivery of SAMP/T NG systems, co-produced with Italy, and to expand counter-drone capabilities on land, at sea and around critical infrastructure.

France is also looking at developing its arsenal of long-range ballistic missiles, with research starting this year to develop assets with a 2,500km range by 2035.

Europe is still largely underprepared for modern warfare, and current long-range ballistic capabilities are limited to a few armies, mainly France and the United Kingdom.

France owns a series of submarine-launched ballistic missiles – the Ariane Group-made M51 – as part of its nuclear arsenal, with a range of more than 8,000 km. The same company is also working on developing a 2,000 km land-launched missile.

Despite the budget increase, the French military’s structure would remain unchanged, with 225 fighter jets and 15 first-class frigates.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu – then defence minister – had in February 2025 raised the need to acquire three additional frigates to “maintain a presence in multiple maritime areas simultaneously, from the Red Sea to the Indo-Pacific, including the Baltic and the Mediterranean”.

(at,aw)