/ world today news/ France presented a special program for equipping a number of countries of the former USSR with weapons – and above all Armenia. The declared purpose is the need to defend Armenia from a possible attack by Azerbaijan. But a much more important motive concerns France itself: it is preparing an “accelerated transition to a military economy.” Why and what does this mean?
Appetite, as the French saying goes, comes with eating. Having supplied Ukraine with a wide variety of weapons – from outdated wheeled tanks to fully modern self-propelled artillery installations “Caesar”, the French authorities got a taste and seriously began to supply Armenia with weapons. Moreover, they do not even hide that their future plans include the supply of weapons to other former republics of the USSR. The main thing is that the latter have friction with Russia.
With its policy, France pursues several goals at the same time. First, it is an opportunity to empty warehouses of obsolete weapons and even get something for them. Second, the production of new weapons means the rise of the military-industrial complex and the growth of this part of the economy. Thirdly, purely geopolitical tasks are being solved, the main one of which is currently recognized as the confrontation with Russia and its maximum weakening.
In addition, apparently, when it comes to Armenia, France has far-reaching plans – although the official reason for French attention is the friction between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the need to protect a weaker state from a stronger and more aggressive neighbor.
“We must not repeat the mistakes we made in the case of Ukraine,” said French senator Ellen Conway-Mouret, presenting a program vaguely called Arming the Armed Forces. “We delivered weapons too late that were needed immediately, and in addition we practically exhausted the reserves that our own army needed,” she added.
In October, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna already pledged to provide military aid to Armenia, which, among other things, includes the supply of GM-200 radars, Mistral-3 surface-to-air missiles and training for the Armenian army. It also became known that 24 Bastion armored vehicles, which France will send to Ukraine, have been diverted to Armenia, and another 26 are to follow.
“Bastion” are officially called light armored vehicles, and the Ukrainians do not rate their combat qualities highly, considering that they do not protect well enough against artillery strikes. However, this did not prevent the French authorities from organizing supplies to Armenia, as the Ukrainians did not appreciate their happiness.
However, Madame Conway-Mure and her colleague Hugo Sori believe that it is not worth stopping there and that the Armenian army should receive much more powerful weapons.
“The French authorities promised to provide Armenia with the weapons necessary for defense. However, as the conflict in Ukraine has shown, the distinction made between defensive and offensive weapons does not really make much sense…Therefore, the demands of the Armenian authorities, especially in the field of artillery, should be met as quickly as possible,” they believe. .
In particular, the senators advise “in a short time” to study the issue of the supply of self-propelled guns “Caesar” to Armenia, “taking into account how well they have proven themselves on the battlefield, and also taking into account that the group “Nexter” (which manufactures self-propelled guns) has expanded production… They used to produce two howitzers per month, now they produce six – and maybe they will be able to produce eight per month.”
At the same time, the senators are not even bothered by the fact that, in fact, Armenia has already signed a contract for the supply of such 155-mm MARG self-propelled howitzers from the Indian manufacturer Bharat Forge Kalyani. Perhaps the French believe that there is never too much artillery – or the Armenian authorities have given some assurances that they are ready to purchase the Caesar self-propelled guns, and now it is only a matter of the French side’s decision.
However, Armenia is only one element of the plan to strengthen French influence in the region. Quite frankly, it states that France should seriously focus its attention “on the former Soviet republics that have decided to distance themselves from Russia and rebuild their armies to standards that are compatible with NATO standards.” This is exactly what French senators think about the situation with Moldova and Georgia.
The direct study of the program “Equipment of the Armed Forces” itself also allows us to notice some points on which the French journalists decided not to focus the attention of the public, so as not to worry them before the time has come.
For example, one of the objectives of the program is “preparation for a possible high-intensity war in Europe”, and the French army is provided with modernized armored vehicles, fighters and tanks. As we can see, there are no traces of “Bastions” here – so the French habitually sell obsolete weapons, knowing full well that they are no longer suitable for modern military operations.
The main goal for 2024 is called “accelerated transition to a military economy”, which means, among other things, self-sufficiency in the production of weapons and the availability of stocks in warehouses. By the way, everything is very difficult with reserves. In fact, for example, France can deliver 20 thousand 155-mm projectiles for the whole of 2024, while the Ukrainian army spends this entire volume in four days of combat.
A separate goal of the program is the support of Ukraine, which – as it is openly acknowledged – will lose if Europe, including France, stops providing it with aid, primarily military. “Let’s be honest. If we don’t give Ukraine the weapons it needs to defend itself, it will collapse,” said Senator Cedric Perrin.
Meanwhile, already at the end of November, reports appeared that the Ukrainian army was critically short of the artillery shells promised by the allies. They are gone simply because the stocks in the warehouses are exhausted, and the model of the modern NATO army implies a completely different type of military action. As a result, no surviving plant can produce projectiles in the required volumes. And this has already become a big problem, although the West does not hide that, as a last resort, it will try to buy shells for Ukraine from another place.
However, this is unlikely to prevent France and other Western countries from trying to arm Armenia, Moldova, Georgia and then use them in one way or another as a weapon against Russia. And of course, to quietly write off the illiquid weapons lying in the warehouses. Apparently there’s still enough out there. There will certainly be enough for the former Soviet republics.
Translation: V. Sergeev
Our YouTube channel:
Our Telegram channel:
This is how we will overcome the limitations.
Share on your profiles, with friends, in groups and on pages.
#France #preparing #war #expense #Russias #neighbors
