In the framework of updating the military programming law presented on Wednesday in the Council of Ministers, France will announce that it has decided to equip itself with a conventional ballistic missile. A new capability for carrying out highly precise strikes in great depth (over 1000 km).
This is not really a surprise: the ArianeGroup’s central ballistic missile project (MBT) is set to be launched within the framework of the update of the Military Programming Law (LPM), according to concordant sources. The concept of deep strike is “embedded” (as they say in military jargon) in the updated LPM, which runs until 2030, as part of feasibility studies costing only a few tens of millions of euros, as explained by La Tribune. The bulk of the budget effort will be made in the next LPM after 2030, or perhaps before if the new president elected in 2027 wishes to launch a new one.
France wants to possess this weapon system
This issue is a burning topic in the global context of long-range strike systems with conventional ballistic missile battles (Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Iran). The performance of these weapon systems, in terms of capacity, is capable of bypassing air defenses. The United States and Russia are developing families of ballistic missiles that gradually increase their range to strike in depth, over 1,000 km (1,500 km, 2,000 km, 2,500 km…).
Deep strike is a capability that France absolutely wants to possess in its military capabilities today to be able to offer graduated responses to an adversary who would also be at the state of the art in the technological field. “This will give us new options to manage escalation conventionally, at a time when adversaries deploy new technologies and weapons,” explained the President of the Republic on the Long Island at the beginning of March.
Ballistic missile: a mastered technology
On October 21st, the Minister of Armed Forces Catherine Vautrin emphasized to the National Assembly that the armed forces must “take advantage of French scientific expertise, at the forefront, to anticipate tomorrow’s technological breakthroughs.” This is indeed the case with a ballistic missile, whose technologies, like those of American or Russian groups, have been developed by ArianeGroup, a subsidiary of Airbus and Safran, on behalf of French deterrence (now the M51). It is actually the only company in Europe that fully masters a ballistic missile system, capable of being deployed under the sea, from the sea, from land, and in the air.
