Emmanuel Macron announces site near Germany will be modernized to host nukes amid fears Donald Trump will desert the continent.
France will modernize one of the country’s main air bases so it can host nuclear weapons, French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday.
“The Luxeuil air base is about to be upgraded in an unprecedented way and regain its full role in France’s nuclear deterrent,” he said, speaking from the area, adding it will need a “massive investment” to house two squadrons of Rafale jets able to carry nuclear weapons.
The plan is not entirely new, as the chairman of the Senate’s foreign affairs and defense committee, Cédric Perrin, hinted at it in June.
Announcing the storage of modern nuclear missiles on an air base less than 200 kilometers from the German border is strategic signalling. It also comes after Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz said he wanted to hold talks about France’s nuclear deterrent as fears grow of a U.S. retreat from the continent.
The Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur base hosted nuclear weapons for decades, until Rafale fighter jets were transferred to another location in 2011.
Now, France will invest €1.5 billion and by 2035 the base will host F5 Rafale fighter jets as well as ASN4G air-launched hypersonic nuclear missiles. The staff will double to 2,000 people.
Macron also confirmed that France would order more Rafales from Dassault Aviation, without providing a number. Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu previously said that the French air force would need about 20 more, adding to a fleet expected to reach more than 180 warplanes.
“If we are to avoid war, our country and our continent must continue to defend, equip and prepare themselves,” Macron said.
The French president said he would make more announcements soon on the country’s rearmament.
