President Emmanuel Macron has been considering extending the strategic arsenal to cover other EU members
France will upgrade one of its main air bases along the border with Germany to host the Rafale fighter planes armed with nuclear cruise missiles, President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday.
The Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur base in eastern France hosted nuclear weapons until 2011, when the planes were relocated to a different site.
“The Luxeuil air base is about to be upgraded in an unprecedented way and regain its full role in France’s nuclear deterrent,” Macron said.
“By 2035, Luxeuil will be the first base to host the next version of the Rafale and its hypersonic nuclear missiles,” the president announced. He added that the garrison will double in size to nearly 2,000 military and civilian personnel to accommodate two Rafale squadrons.
The government will spend €1.5 billion ($1.64 billion) to modernize the base and speed up Rafale orders.
Without mentioning Russia by name, Macron said that France has found itself in “an increasingly dangerous and uncertain world” since open hostilities broke out between Moscow and Kiev in 2022.
The announcement comes after Germany’s chancellor-designate, Friedrich Merz, suggested that France could extend its nuclear arsenal to protect Germany and other EU members. Macron responded by saying that he would launch a discussion on the matter.
Russia has condemned the EU’s “militarization” programs as reckless and escalatory. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters earlier this month that “confrontational rhetoric and confrontational plans that we are now seeing in Brussels and in European capitals could hamper finding a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict.
