Equip the French army with a German rifle, an error?

The announcement was predictable: the Ministry of Defense has just chosen a German assault rifle to replace, within our armed forces, our National Famas.

A new page in our industrial history therefore turns, as often in the matter, probably definitively.Of course, the process had been - alas - long engaged, with the closure in anonymity, of the prestigious manufacture of arms of Saint -Etienne.But this event must lead us to question ourselves again and, perhaps, rather than to resign ourselves, to react.

France, the only large nation to depend on the foreigner in light weapons

First an observation: member countries of the United Nations Security Council, France is now alone in depending on the foreigner in light weapons.Certainly the answer - very French - is known: an assault rifle, like many other available materials "on shelves", would not have any strategic character.So we would once again be right against the whole world.Perhaps, but whether we like it or not, certain acquisitions abroad - regardless of the fact that they create neither wealth nor jobs in France - have a symbolic significance which far exceeds economic or financial issues strictosensu.And in this case the importation of a rifle, can hardly be interpreted other than as yet another sign of the decline of our mechanical industry or the disinterest - not to say contempt - of the country towards it.Do we imagine for a moment the US Army having a standard rifle made elsewhere than in the United States, the Bundeswehr equipped with an Italian rifle or the Russian army with a Belgian rifle?

A shortened message

Beyond the budgetary considerations all all quite modest in view of our thirty billion annual expenses on defense, the message addressed to the public opinion of our country is, from our rather disastrous point of view, in thatHe will wrongly maintain a very French complex in industrial matters.It also arrives at a bad time, while our armed forces are engaged in several theaters of ground operations and it is our foreign suppliers who will draw the benefit of the "Proven combat" label from which we know todaydecisive importance in the conquest of new markets.And it is undoubtedly very naive to imagine that they will not exploit this breach, to then offer other ranges of equipment to our DGA.

A possible national solution

Too bad, because at the risk of pleading for a form of protectionism - a concept that is quite legitimate in terms of defense - which can reasonably doubt that France, which is about to engage for decades, would not have been able toPromote a national solution?Could not the State bring together around the same table our manufacturers, small and large actors in our BitD, to finally constitute a French team of terrestrial armament - like those which garner successes in the aeronautical fields andNaval - and protect an activity of sovereignty and influence, rather than giving the impression of abandoning it?

"Made in France" ammunition

In this area, the Minister of Defense, it must be emphasized, may have found a way of limiting the damage of a deindustrialisation engaged by his predecessors.Following the report of deputies Nicolas Bays and Nicolas Dhuicq who indeed highlighted the dependence of our country in terms of supplies in ammunition of small calibers -which are indeed all imported -, Jean -Yves Le Drian recently issuedthe idea of re -implantation in France, of a munitional capacity.This would not doubt it, to meet the increased needs of the ministries concerned - defense, interior, justice and finance -, in the context that we know.

Thus, by relying on perfectly identified national industrialists, with recognized and exporting know-how, and since the mild weapons that already equip our police and will equip our armed forces tomorrow, are and will be foreign, at least ourammunition, by taking a strategic character again, they still have a chance to become "Made in France" again.To be continued.

Rémy Thannberger, former listener of the Institute of Advanced Studies of La Défensenationale, is Chairman of the Management Board of the Manurhin group.

4 minutes

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