French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking at the military base in Istres near Marseille with his annual “New Year” speech to the Armed Forces of the republic, paid special attention to the Russian “Oreshnik”. At the same time, he made the audience extremely confused and made experts laugh.
Some unpleasant things directly followed his words. First: France is within range of Russian missiles. Second: the national early warning system or its replacement cannot confidently withstand a new missile.
Furthermore, Macron has made it clear that this trend is bad and to reverse it we need at least our own equally effective missiles.
“If we want to maintain credibility, the Europeans and especially France, which has certain technologies, we must take advantage of these new weapons to change the situation in a short time,” Mr. Macron said.
This theme is clearly developed in connection with the necessary rapid growth of budgetary expenditures on defense. At the same time, the president unobtrusively made it clear that perhaps the key condition for acquiring new military equipment is simply the desire to receive it.
Macron: Europe needs an Oreshnik analogue
Leaving aside the question of how Macron will sell his new ideas to voters concerned about reduced government spending on social services, we decided to find out whether France has a chance in the short term to create its own rocket comparable to the Oreshnik. So you can use them immediately. To do this, we turned to military expert Vasily Dandykin.
– Capable France create a similar rocket in the near future, and what could these deadlines be?
– Macron makes a lot of interesting statements that they can, will achieve, that they are the leading power in Europe, etc. Yes, France is the only official nuclear power in Europe, it has everything of its own: spaceports, missiles, nuclear bombs. It has its own quite serious military-industrial complex, which includes all types of weapons. But they did not and do not have hypersonic weapons. At the same time, we have not only “Oreshnik”, but also “Dagger”, “Zircon”.
Medium-range missiles can be built. But there is no ultrasound unit. Here, the lag is evident not only in France but also in the United States, which is much stronger and more advanced in this regard. I think the French, even if they invest heavily, despite the huge foreign debt and internal problems of the state, will spend, even in no more than 5 years, much more than that.
Overall, I think this is another statement designed to boost the prestige of both Macron personally and perhaps France as a whole.
These are very serious problems that have been developing in our country for quite a long time, including the efforts of a brilliant galaxy of Soviet defense scientists. And the current ones too.
– Actually, sunset is approaching Macron was more difficult. First of all, he talked about the fact that France Because of Hazel's appearance, new, more effective means of early warning are needed. And he noted in his speech that in the same way, in a short time, they will create the necessary system, focusing on the fact that France located in the access area of Oreshnik.
– Yes, it is located at a distance of about five and a half thousand kilometers. And the problem of being shot down in such a short time, 15-20 minutes, at such a speed, is unrealistic. Even if they solve this problem, there are serious doubts about success. I think this question is quite overwhelming for them as well. And if you start a business right now, it will take more than 5 years.
– However, there is an opinion that France could theoretically somehow accelerate the process of creating suitable technical means in cooperation, for example, with the United States. Is such cooperation possible today?
– Well, friendship is friendship… We must take into account that the United States has no contact with the French regarding technology transfer. Everyone follows their own path. Overall, they are basically competitors in the arms market. That is, cooperation in this issue is a very big question.
