On the occasion of a trip to the Toulon naval base on Wednesday, November 9, the Head of State, Emmanuel Macron, delivered an important speech on military strategy, more than eight months after the start of the war in Ukraine. . This speech was backed by the publication, on the same day, of the “National Strategic Review” (RNS) 2022, a partially public document, supposed to give the main orientations of national defense by 2030. The American administration also released, in mid-October, its own “national security strategy”including elements on its nuclear posture.
“This war has clarified the state of the world in which we are (…) This tragic acceleration made it essential that we revise (…) our reflection »justified Mr. Macron from the aviation hangar of the amphibious helicopter carrier Diksmuide, before being airlifted to the brand new nuclear attack submarine (SNA) Suffren, admitted to active service in June. While the Suffren will have state-of-the-art special operations capabilities, the President then met with Commando Hubert.
This trip was tailor-made to make an important clarification on the French doctrine of deterrence, November 9 being also the anniversary date of the death of General de Gaulle. A month after ambiguous remarks made on France 2, in which he had implied that the use of a nuclear weapon in Ukraine or in a neighboring region would not call for a nuclear response from France, Mr. Macron returned to this position on Wednesday. “Let us sometimes be careful not to dramatize a few words”he commented.
Deterrence, said the French president, “protects us from any aggression of state origin against our vital interests, wherever this aggression comes from and whatever the form”a reference in particular to the debate on tactical nuclear weapons. “Today more than yesterday, the vital interests of France have a European dimension”insisted the Head of State, while it is precisely this European dimension that seemed to have been called into question on France 2, causing trouble among many allies, particularly in eastern Europe.
“Armies of Decades to Follow”
Having made this clarification, the President defined the framework in which more down-to-earth discussions are currently taking place on the needs of the armies by 2030. Faced with the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the executive decided , several months ago, to adopt a new military programming law (LPM) in 2023. If the Toulon speech was not intended to detail the arbitrations in progress, it allowed the Head of State to outline it.
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