Record orders for the French Defense, which in 2024 reaches the second best year ever with over 18 billion euros, driven by the demand for Rafale fighters and submarines. The Minister of the Armed Forces declared it Sébastien Lecornu to the troops in his traditional speech at the beginning of the year. The minister motivated the industry to make 2025 a new record year, driven by exports of ships, submarines, radar systems, artillery pieces, helicopters and even more jets Dassault Rafale. Export efforts will also focus on the latest version of the Franco-Italian air defense system Samp/Twhich the minister said was critical to defending against future ballistic missile threats, particularly potential ones from Iran and Russia.
France has traditionally relied on military exports to help pay for what it calls strategic autonomyallowing the country to maintain capabilities such as building an entire fighter jet or a nuclear-powered submarine, albeit with a national economy that is a fraction of that of the United States or China. And with the numbers of 2024, Paris confirms itself as the second largest arms exporting capital since 2019 after the United States, representing 11% of the global ones, at least according to the data released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri). In the speech of Lecornu words were heard which, if said in Italy, would have caused a political tsunami, but certainly without hypocrisy: “Exporting our armaments is fundamental to developing our industrial and technological defense base; it is equally crucial for our trade balance and for creating jobs across France. But it is also a prerequisite for our sovereignty.”
Last year’s orders included nearly ten billion euros for Dassault Aviation’s Rafale jets and Naval Group submarines. Overall French Defense export orders more than doubled from 8.2 billion euros in 2023, following a record 27 billion euros in 2022. Separately, Dassault Aviation reported export orders for thirty Rafale fighters in 2024 compared to 18 of the previous year. Export deliveries increased from two to seven aircraft, out of a total of 21 Rafale jets delivered in 2024 compared to 13 the year before. However, there is no shortage of political problems: Lecornu He warned that the government’s failure to pass a 2024 budget in a divided parliament in 2024 threatens France’s ability to sufficiently fund defense. He then called on lawmakers to assume their legislative responsibility, saying the Armed Forces should “at a minimum” receive the budget set out in the 2024-2030 military spending law to “ensure France’s real military effectiveness.” According to the minister, “a possible annual increase in the defense budget of three billion euros over the planning period should be seen as a minimum limit, certainly not a maximum limit, since with the growing threats to security we must not weaken ourselves”.
The international situation is undeniable: the production of weapons is increasing in countries at war and in authoritarian regimes as well as in the great democratic powerssome of which are allies and competitors of the European ones in exports. France, second Lecornuis “only at the beginning” of reaching the level of a true war economy, despite this it is necessary to ensure the essential level for the survival of a “sovereign”, i.e. independent, Defense industry. In his speech the minister concluded: “The war economy we are implementing should also make our Defense industry more competitive in the market, particularly in terms of delivery times and prices, a determining factor in a time of fierce competition which happens while the world rearms. In the past, slow delivery times have caused French companies to lose orders to foreign rivals.” Explaining: “The European Union’s plans to support the defense industry are useful but should not involve spending European taxpayers’ money to produce American equipment under license,” the minister argued. The latter could provide the illusion of a European autonomy that in reality is non-existent, but would put the continent at the mercy of a potential strategic reversal by its US ally.
“The role of the European Commission should be to accelerate and simplify the development of European defense industries, not to replace member states by creating additional complexities or constraints”. With these assumptions, the French minister invited producers to take greater risks in innovation rather than counting on the government to pay for new projects, with these words: “Where there is a market, there is by definition an economic model to be found and the taxpayer alone cannot be systematically implicated in any form of precondition”. French priorities in 2025 will include the implementation of artificial intelligence for the entire defense starting from operational intelligence and for the cyber sector. The goal is to make AI available for all operational uses, including anti-drone warfare, operational decision making, fire control for ground robots and piloting aids for fighter jets. “The year 2025 should allow us to take a step forward and make France one of the leading countries in the world in the field of military artificial intelligence.”
France, like other nations, is investing in quantum technologies that will have a major impact on how war is fought. The military will deploy quantum computing units in aircraft, ships and satellites. Space will also be key this year: the first commercial flight of the Ariane 6 launcher will bring the CSO-3 military surveillance satellite into orbit, while a military space summit will be organized in France in the first half of the year to bring together the space industry French and give priority to military needs. The other segment in which French technological development will be concentrated is that of drones: “They will be present in every unit of the army, in every unit of the Navy and in every department of the Air Force and Space Force together with anti-drone systems. The industry must move quickly and, if necessary, turn to existing, cost-effective, off-the-shelf systems rather than going through years of development and certification. The situation is urgent and here too only results will count. Where drones are present, they must be supported by electronic attack and defense capabilities.”
