Drawing lessons from Ukraine, the 2024’2030 MPL accelerates France’s efforts to enhance its drone warfare capabilities through increased spending, technological innovation, and operational training. Investments target loitering munitions, tactical drones, Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (MALE UAVs), swarm capabilities, and Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (C-UAS) systems, while cooperation with Ukraine supports rapid adaptation. Budgetary pressures and political uncertainty nonetheless raise doubts about the long-term sustainability of this effort.
Article 34 of the 1958 French Constitution establishes programming laws that set long-term policy frameworks and define multi-year budget orientations’typically spanning 4 to 7 years. The Loi de Programmation Militaire (Military Programming Law or MPL) applies this mechanism to national defense. It outlines the French armed forces’ main priorities, identifies strategic challenges, and allocates the financial resources needed to modernize the military over the designated period. The 2024’2030 MPL seeks to reinforce France’s sovereignty and strategic autonomy. Compared with the previous law, it significantly increases defense spending. The MPL document states that the convergence of hybrid warfare and high-intensity conflict’illustrated by Russia’s war in Ukraine’requires scaling up the French Army’s equipment and capabilities and enhancing joint operations. The document outlines a major threat: “The international jihadist movement continues to present a significant security challenge for both Western states and fragile countries across the Muslim world, from Africa to Southeast Asia.” The document presents other evolving threats, including the use of proxies by competing powers to undermine French influence; mounting pressure on French overseas territories, particularly from China; and the destabilizing effects of climate change, which aggravate crises in fragile regions.
To address these challenges, the MPL is structured around several investment pillars. The first pillar consolidates traditional capabilities: nuclear deterrence, force readiness, intelligence and counter-intelligence, special operations, the protection of overseas territories, and training for high-intensity operations. The second pillar focuses on fields where competition is increasing: modernization of equipment, military forces” robotization, the expansion and revitalization of air defense, adaptation of the war economy and its legal framework, securing reliable ammunition supplies, and reinforcing national cohesion through the Lien Arm’e-Nation. The third pillar targets cutting-edge technologies essential for future conflicts: space systems, deep-sea capabilities, cyber warfare, and artificial intelligence (AI). The fourth and final pillar aims to expand manpower, notably by strengthening the operational reserve and improving the quality of life for military personnel.
The adoption of the MPL followed the legislative process defined by the French Constitution. After two weeks of debate’around 90 hours’the National Assembly approved the bill on 7 June 2023. The text was then transmitted to the Senate, which began its review on 27 June. Senators introduced several amendments emphasizing the need to accelerate military strengthening, particularly in nuclear deterrence and support for the defense industrial base through the creation of an investment fund. While maintaining the overall financial envelope, the Senate redistributed and accelerated the spending schedule: the 2024 defense budget was raised from ?3.1 billion to ?3.5 billion, followed by ?3.6 billion annually instead of ?3 billion between 2024 and 2027, before increasing to ?4.3 billion from 2027 to 2030. The geopolitical environment, especially the war in Ukraine, was cited to justify this accelerated timeline. The Senate adopted its revised version on 29 June. A Commission mixte paritaire (Joint Committee) then convened to reconcile the two chambers of the Parliament. It reached an agreement on 13 July 2023, approving the final 2024’2030 MPL. The law commits ?413 billion over seven years, an increase of ?118 billion compared with the previous programming law.
A central element of the MPL is the ?10 billion earmarked for innovation. These funds aim to ensure that France maintains technological superiority in contested domains such as cyber, space, deep sea, the electromagnetic spectrum, and information warfare. Priority is given to the national industrial and technological base to preserve a sovereign supply chain. To keep pace with rapid innovation cycles, the Direction g’n’rale de l’armement (Directorate General of Armaments – DGA) will develop forecasting methods to anticipate future technological disruptions and deepen cooperation with private companies and start-ups. Through the Agence de l’innovation de d’fense (Agency of Defense Innovation – AID), part of this budget will support the emergence of solutions adapted to hybrid threats and complex operational environments. Robotization is one of the most significant challenges identified in the MPL. Around ?5 billionis dedicated to drone programs of all types. This article focuses on France’s investments in UAVs and, more broadly, on the country’s efforts to advance drone-enabled warfare. Among the MPL’s UAV priorities are the development of reliable loitering munitions, the ability to conduct swarm operations by 2030, and the reinforcement of air-defense systems against unmanned threats through enhanced C-UAS capabilities.
The 2024’2030 MPL places strong emphasis on expanding the French Army’s UAV fleet as part of its broader robotization effort. In 2024, ?400 million was earmarked for robotic systems, with a portion allocated to loitering munitions. The Renault group, with the support of the company Turgis Gaillard, has revamped two production sites to manufacture loitering munitions, with a capacity of 600 drones per month. That same year, construction work began on new infrastructure at Air Base 709 in Cognac, France, to accommodate MALE UAVs. In 2025, ??450 million was invested in drones, and the Chaumont Air Base received four Patroller tactical UAVs. The close-range drone fleet is being modernized progressively, combining limited numbers of advanced systems with larger quantities of low-cost, low-tech platforms. In 2026, ??600 million was directed toward UAV programs, accelerating the acquisition of small tactical drones and low-altitude MALE systems, as well as the development of high-altitude drone deployment capabilities. In 2025 and 2026, the company Delair, in collaboration with the European defense industry holding company KMW+Nexter Defense System (KNDS), is delivering the first batch of tactical loitering munition Damocles to the forces. The Army has also been equipped with a dedicated warehouse for tactical drones and maintenance operations. In 2027, MBDA, with Aviation Design, will deliver its first long-distance loitering munitions, similar to the Russian-made UAV Geran-2. Overall, the MPL aims to fund five types of tactical drones and twenty-eight additional UAV categories across its seven-year duration.