France plans to acquire one or two aircraft carriers to replace Charles-de-Gaulle. However, not everyone agrees.
Emmanuel Macron will talk about it in January on the occasion of the presentation of the next military planning law (Lpm). The president must convince the French on the new defense budget and convince his departments on the choices to be pursued in the next ten years for military acquisitions.
The French Ministry of Economy and Finance has proposed to allocate 370 billion euros for the period 2024-2030, while the Defense General Staff hopes for a budget of 430 billion.
Macron wants a "deterrent military power" by the end of the decade. However, the national strategic review, in the main objectives (nuclear, cybernetic, etc.) presented in November, does not address the question of the necessary military means.
The Lpm will therefore have to give an order of priorities, in particular the level of military ambition in Europe and, consequently, outside the EU.
Yohann Michel, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said the LPM will be an opportunity to position the right target in terms of the technology of the equipment to be acquired. The less complex they are, the better it will be for France because they are cheaper: a way to get more. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has taught us that it is necessary to have a "mass" of considerable means to deal with a "high intensity" conflict, ie to provide an ally like Ukraine with the indispensable armaments for a defense on a par with the adversary. The debate is centered on the opportunity to acquire two very expensive aircraft carriers or to direct the defense budget towards additional less expensive armaments which considerably reinforce the military warehouses thus creating strategic deterrence.