France to expand nuclear arsenal amid global stability, new European alliance announced

French President Emmanuel Macron has outlined a major expansion of France’s nuclear defence capabilities, including an increased weapons arsenal and Europe-wide deterrent scheme.

The number of stockpiled warheads would be increased, after current levels fell “below 300,” the president said in a speech at a naval base in Brittany yesterday (March 2). 

A new nuclear submarine, ‘L’Invincible’, will be launched by 2036, the first with ‘advanced’ engines, the president added. 

The final number of nuclear weapons following the expansion will not be disclosed as part of measures to increase the power of the deterrent.

A major part of the announcement was that France’s nuclear arsenal could be used to defend eight other European nations as part of a strategic alliance and ‘advanced deterrence’ strategy. 

This includes non-EU member state the UK, alongside fellow EU members Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Denmark. 

Mr Macron did not announce the cost of the measures, although the defence forces have already been assured their budget will increase across the coming years and is free from any potential spending cuts. 

France expands deterrence zone but falls short of guarantees

The need to bolster the nation’s nuclear capabilities comes in the light of global instability, Mr Macron said.

Expanding the nuclear alliance to other European countries is a major step forward in the nation’s nuclear policy, which has been based on an aggressive form of ‘advanced deterrence’ since the 1960s.

Under the new alliance, the eight countries will be able to host French nuclear-capable air forces at their bases, expanding the range and combined offensive/defensive capabilities of France’s nuclear arsenal. 

Nation states will also have the opportunity to take part in military exercises and will work together alongside France in producing new technologies in the field of defence and space-based anti-nuclear alarm systems, anti-drone action, and longer-ranged missiles. 

The deal does not mean that France is ’sharing’ its nuclear weapons however, and the French President remains the sole leader authorised to confirm a nuclear strike from the arsenal. 

France is also not giving an explicit guarantee to the other eight nations that its weapons will be used for defensive purposes, although the alliance in itself is intended to act as a deterrent.

It falls short of previously discussed options to turn France’s nuclear arsenal into an official EU-wide deterrent, although French officials say the nuclear arsenal is there to defend the nation’s ‘vital interest’, considered likely to include the defence of its EU allies.

France and Germany also assured that the scheme would complement NATO’s nuclear deterrent, and has not been created as a tool to replace it.

France is the only EU member state with nuclear weapons. 

Former member the UK – part of the new defensive nuclear alliance but which already had extensive nuclear agreements with France – also has its own warheads, an estimated 225. 

Unlike the French however, the UK’s arsenal is deployable by nuclear submarine and not via aircraft.