28th September 2017

Nuancing the French defence budget

News 28th September 2017

with Christina Mackenzie “Redressing the defence effort of our country” is the motto of the French Defence Budget 2018 presented on 27 September by Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly. The budget, unveiled in broad terms by President Emmanuel Macron on 13 September, will rise by €1.8bn to €34.2bn (excluding pensions) in 2018, an […]

Macron on Defence Europe

News 27th September 2017

“At the beginning of the next decade Europe will have to have a joint intervention force, a common defence budget and a common doctrine.” The French head of state, Emmanuel Macron, could not have given a clearer vision of Defence Europe than he did in a 90-minute speech delivered yesterday at the University of La Sorbonne […]

What of Merkel’s security programme?

News 25th September 2017

And it’s four in a row! Not exactly a surprise, German Chancellor Angela Merkel led her alliance of Christian Democrats of the CSU/CDU to victory in yesterday’s German elections with 33% of the vote. Even if the electoral shock of seeing an extreme right-wing party return to the Bundestag must not be ignored, our role […]

COSME open to defence clusters

News 22nd September 2017

What if the construction of a European defence industry was also founded on clusters, those clusters of companies that seem to be flourishing in the four corners of Europe? This is in any case what the European Defence Agency (EDA) is banking on by opening the COSME * programme to defence clusters, with the stated aim […]

An Albatros for the Caribbean

News 21st September 2017

France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have decided to launch a joint operation called Albatros, which, through the creation of a tripartite military structure, will respond to the need to intensify international coordination to supply aid to those in the Caribbean affected by the series of hurricanes which have caused considerable damage over a […]

Peach gets top NATO job

News 21st September 2017

For the first time in 25 years, NATO’s highest military body will be chaired by a Briton. At the end of a long election campaign, Air Chief Marshal Stuart Peach was elected on 16 September by the Alliance’s Chiefs of Staff to replace Czech General Petr Pavel as Chairman of the Military Committee. So that […]

Ready for the Invictus Games

News 20th September 2017

It was with laughter and in good humour that 30 wounded soldiers, veterans and civilians of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces underwent their last training session today at the National Centre for Defence Sports (CNSD) in Fontainebleau (60km south of Paris) before flying out to Toronto tomorrow for the 3rd Invictus Games from […]

Sentinelle changes tack

News 15th September 2017

While yet another French soldier on patrol with the Sentinelle Operation was attacked this morning in central Paris, (fortunately he was uninjured), the new modus operandi of Sentinelle presented yesterday by the Minister of the Armed Forces and the Minister of the Interior should make the soldiers on patrol less liable to this type of aggression. […]

An APC version of the VBCI

News 13th September 2017

The Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) programme, which is being fiercely disputed behind the scenes at the DSEi show being held this week in London, aims to provide a new 8×8 armoured vehicle to the British Army, and has in three years become one of the most promising export markets for French manufacturer Nexter with its […]

Thales new assault rifle: the F90MBR

News 12th September 2017

Thales today unveiled at London’s DSEI (Defence and Security Equipment International) show, a new generation ambidextrous and NATO interoperable military assault rifle, the F90MBR – Modular Bullpup Rifle, developed by its Australian branch, Thales Australia. The F90MBR is the new generation of the F90 Assault Rifle, currently in service with the Australian Defence Force. Chris […]