France is “accelerating” its military production due to the war in Ukraine

The French government is undertaking measures to speed up production processes in the defense industry to increase the reserves of its own military.

It was reported by Defense 24.

It is noted that Sébastien Lecornu, French Defense Minister, emphasized the upcoming accelerated supply timeline of the defense products, simplification of the administrative procedures, and strengthening cooperation between the private and public sectors. The plans of the French government also include the development of an independent domestic military industry.

It is said that amid the war in Ukraine, there is a need for simplified work in the defense industry.

The first and key priority is to identify the challenges and involve all participants, especially armament manufacturers, to cooperate with each other. The government plans to work in this area under the slogan “produce faster and more.”

There is also an emphasis on determining the needs of the French army and analyzing the dependence of defense equipment on foreign suppliers.

The French government has identified 4 main objectives to achieve those results:

1. Simplification of the contracts for the military;
2. Simplification of administrative procedures for armament manufacturers;
3. Import substitution – emphasis on French developments;
4. Changing approaches to inventory management – the priority is to replenish the arsenals and collect the materials to manufacture the necessary weapons.

For example, the goal is to change the production time of 155 mm ammunition from 3 to 9 months and to produce the Caesar self-propelled guns in a year instead of two.

The French government has already allocated €3bn to fund defense programming under the Defense Programming Act earlier this year. Now, they plan to provide another 3 to 6 billion euros to replenish the ammunition supplies.

During his speech last week, Sébastien Lecorn noted that “the country is not at war, but must be ready for it.”

To launch all these processes, the government will strengthen its work with defense enterprises.

Cooperation between the General Staff and the Main Directorate of Arms with manufacturers is planned to be carried out on an ongoing basis. The next meeting to discuss the introduction of the military economy will be held in October.