{"id":5215,"date":"2026-03-02T20:36:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T20:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/france-to-increase-nuclear-warheads-lend-nuclear-aircraft-to-europe-allies\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T20:36:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T20:36:30","slug":"france-to-increase-nuclear-warheads-lend-nuclear-aircraft-to-europe-allies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/france-to-increase-nuclear-warheads-lend-nuclear-aircraft-to-europe-allies\/","title":{"rendered":"France to increase nuclear warheads, lend nuclear aircraft to Europe allies"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>President Macron\u2019s \u2018advanced deterrence\u2019 will be a nuclear-security relationship with key allies distinct from NATO arrangements.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will increase the number of its nuclear warheads and allow the temporary deployment of its nuclear-armed aircraft to eight European countries to bolster the security of the continent.<\/p>\n<p>His speech at France\u2019s Ile Longue nuclear submarine base on Monday introduced the idea of \u201cadvanced deterrence\u201d, a deeper, structured nuclear-security relationship with key European partners that he said was distinct from but complementary to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/12\/us-urges-europe-to-take-the-lead-on-defence-in-nato\">NATO<\/a>\u2019s nuclear arrangements.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/13\/us-and-europe-must-repair-and-revive-transatlantic-ties-germanys-merz\">US and Europe must \u2018repair and revive transatlantic ties\u2019: Germany\u2019s Merz<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/19\/macron-and-meloni-clash-over-killing-of-french-far-right-activist-in-lyon\">Macron and Meloni clash over killing of French far-right activist in Lyon<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/28\/world-reacts-to-us-israel-attack-on-iran-tehran-retaliation\">World reacts to US, Israel attack on Iran, Tehran retaliation<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/13\/merz-macron-to-address-munich-security-conference-amid-disputes-with-us\">Merz, Macron to address Munich Security Conference amid disputes with US<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Macron\u2019s speech, which was scheduled before the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/liveblog\/2026\/3\/2\/us-israel-attack-iran-live\">widening conflict in the Middle East<\/a>, was aimed at quelling European security concerns amid recurring tensions with United States President Donald Trump and growing fears of Russian aggression amid Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must strengthen our nuclear deterrent in the face of multiple threats, and we must consider our deterrence strategy deep within the European continent, with full respect for our sovereignty,\u201d Macron said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be free, one needs to be feared,\u201d the president said in his speech.<\/p>\n<p>The eight European countries that have agreed to participate in Macron\u2019s scheme include Germany, Britain, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Denmark.<\/p>\n<p>They will be able to host French \u201cstrategic air forces\u201d, which will be able to \u201cspread out across the European continent\u201d to \u201ccomplicate the calculations of our adversaries\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Macron announced the new measures as France\u2019s allies are concerned that a possible win by the far-right National Rally party of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/4\/1\/le-pens-conviction-in-france-career-ending-or-fuel-for-a-new-far-right\">Marine Le Pen<\/a> in next year\u2019s presidential election could undermine cooperation in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn upgrade of our arsenal is essential,\u201d Macron said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I ordered an increase in the number of nuclear warheads in our arsenal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Macron also said that France will no longer disclose the figures for its nuclear arsenal, reversing past transparency practices.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"a-more-hardening-world\">A more \u2018hardening\u2019 world<\/h2>\n<p>Macron\u2019s announcement came as he claimed that the world is \u201chardening\u201d, with adversaries \u201cbolder\u201d, alliances more uncertain, and nuclear risks higher than in the past.<\/p>\n<p>Russia is waging a \u201cslow and cruel\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/tag\/ukraine-russia-crisis\/\">war against Ukraine;<\/a> China has embarked on a rapid military build-up to catch up with the US and now \u201cmanufactures more weapons than any other country\u201d; and in Asia, India, Pakistan, and North Korea are \u201crapidly expanding\u201d their arsenals and strategic forces, said Macron.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Middle East is a source of ongoing instability to Europe, the French leader said, warning that a widening war between the US, Israel and Iran risks spilling over to Europe\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is not about entering into any kind of arms race \u2026 The essential point, as I said, is that no adversary, or any combination of adversaries, should be able to contemplate the possibility of any strike against France without the certainty of suffering damage from which they would not recover,\u201d said Macron.<\/p>\n<p>France maintains the world\u2019s fourth-largest nuclear arsenal, estimated at around 290 warheads. It has not increased its arsenal since at least 1992. Britain, which is no longer a member of the European Union, is the only other European nuclear power.<\/p>\n<p>By contrast, the US and Russia, the world\u2019s two main atomic powers, have thousands of nuclear warheads each.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Macron\u2019s \u2018advanced deterrence\u2019 will be a nuclear-security relationship with key allies distinct from NATO arrangements. French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will increase the number of its nuclear warheads and allow the temporary deployment of its nuclear-armed aircraft to eight European countries to bolster the security of the continent. His speech at &#8230; <a title=\"France to increase nuclear warheads, lend nuclear aircraft to Europe allies\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/france-to-increase-nuclear-warheads-lend-nuclear-aircraft-to-europe-allies\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about France to increase nuclear warheads, lend nuclear aircraft to Europe allies\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}