The gates of the Lann-Bihoué naval air base, in Ploemeur (Morbihan), have just closed on a delegation of officials from all over France. Falcon 50s, Rafale marines, patrol boats, Caiman helicopters and drones can return to their hangars. The 1,500 soldiers on the site have become accustomed to these visitor parades.
The French navy now only has four bases like that of Lann-Bihoué for its aviation. Fourteen have been wiped off the map since 1980, the result of decades of budget cuts.
Captain Jean-Michel Aumenier, commander of Lann-Bihoué, wants to believe that “deflation is over”. “Within fifteen years, all aircraft will have been renewed”he explains in front of the construction site of the buildings which will house the future Falcon 200s.
Accustomed to broken promises and more or less clear cuts, the armies were beginning to doubt the revival of defense investment. They were reassured by the call from the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, of June 13, 2022: “France must switch to a war economy. » The head of the armed forces was speaking to arms manufacturers and their subcontractors.
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The defense industrial and technological base, with 4,000 companies of all sizes but already weakened, has been exposed with the conflict in Ukraine, which marks the return of high-intensity war on the European continent. France may well hold the rank of second arms exporter in the world, but its soldiers, sailors and pilots lack ammunition and sometimes basic equipment. This is the case in Lann-Bihoué, where more than half of the Cayman fleet is grounded for lack of spare parts.
“We have to go faster, stronger, at the lowest costtold the head of state to manufacturers. Our defense ecosystem must be able to produce more, faster and over time, and to think differently. » In defense circles, no one disputes this urgency. For Thomas Gomart, director of the French Institute of International Relations, the global strategic context has become “very unfavorable” to France, particularly given the acceleration in global spending. “China built the equivalent of the French navy every four years. The rate has increased to every eighteen months”notes the expert.
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