French government plans to quadruple missile and drone stockpiles by 2030 - media

As part of a revised military planning law, France plans to increase its missile and drone stockpiles by 400% by 2030, allocating EUR 8.5 billion for this purpose.

This is reported by the authors of the Politico publication.

The bill envisages an increase in the country's defense spending to EUR 63.3 billion in 2027, EUR 68.3 billion in 2028, EUR 72.8 billion in 2029 and EUR 76.3 billion in 2030. The plan's goals include increasing the stockpiles of loitering munitions (kamikaze drones) by 400%, Safran's AASM Hammer guided bombs by 240%, and MBDA's Aster and Mica missiles by 30%.

The bill does not envisage expanding the size of the armed forces or purchasing additional Dassault Rafale fighters and frigates, while considering the possibility of developing a new tank to replace the Leclerc. The Eurodrone program, which France is implementing jointly with Germany, Italy and Spain, is not funded in the project.

"After russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, most European countries rushed to develop their defense capabilities, spending billions of euros on armaments," the report said.