French President Emmanuel Macron announced Monday that France will increase its variety of nuclear warheads from the present level of below 300, but didn’t give a figure for the rise.
It’s going to be the primary time France increases its nuclear arsenal since not less than 1992.
“I even have decided to extend the numbers of warheads of our arsenal,” Macron said at a military base at L’Ile Longue in northwestern France that hosts the country’s ballistic missile submarines.
“My responsibility is to be certain that our deterrence maintains — and can maintain in the longer term — its assured destructive power,” Macron said.
Macron’s speech was geared toward spelling out how French nuclear weapons fit into Europe’s security amid concerns raised on the continent by recurring tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump.
European leaders have voiced growing doubts about U.S. commitments to assist defend Europe under the so-called nuclear umbrella, a policy long intended to be certain that allies — particularly NATO members — could be protected by American nuclear forces within the event of a threat.
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France is the one nuclear power within the European Union.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron, center right, speaks during a national defence council meeting on the Elysee Palace, Sunday, March 1, 2026, in Paris, France.
(AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, pool)
“If we had to make use of our arsenal, no state, nevertheless powerful, could shield itself from it, and no state, nevertheless vast, would get better from it,” Macron said.
Some European nations have already taken up a suggestion Macron made last 12 months to debate France’s nuclear deterrence and even associate European partners in nuclear exercises.
Earlier this month, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he’d had “initial talks” with Macron on the difficulty and had publicly theorized about German Air Force planes possibly getting used to hold French nuclear bombs.
France and Britain also adopted a joint declaration in July that enables each nations’ nuclear forces, while independent, to be “coordinated.” The U.K., not an EU member but a NATO ally, is the one other European country with a nuclear deterrent.
Macron has consistently insisted any decision to make use of France’s nuclear weapons would remain only within the hands of the French president.
© 2026 The Canadian Press