French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday that France would increase the number of its nuclear warheads from the current level of less than 300, but did not give a figure for the increase.
This is the first time France has increased its nuclear arsenal since at least 1992.
“I have decided to increase the number of warheads in our arsenal,” Macron said at a military base in L’Île Long in northwest France that hosts the country’s ballistic missile submarines.
“It is my responsibility to ensure that our deterrence maintains its deterrence in the future – and maintains its assured destructive power,” Macron said.
Macron’s speech aimed to outline how French nuclear weapons fit into Europe’s security amid concerns raised on the continent by repeated tensions with US President Donald Trump.
European leaders have expressed growing doubts about US commitments to help protect Europe under the so-called nuclear umbrella, long intended to ensure that allies – particularly NATO members – are protected by American nuclear forces in the event of a threat.
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France is the only nuclear power in the European Union.
French President Emmanuel Macron, center right, speaks during a meeting of the National Defense Council at the Elysee Palace, Sunday, March 1, 2026, in Paris, France.
(AP Photo/Aurelian Morissard, Poole)
“If we have to use our arsenal, no state, however powerful, can protect itself from it and no state, however vast, can recover from it,” Macron said.
Some European countries have already taken up Macron’s offer last year to discuss France’s nuclear deterrence and even involve European partners in nuclear exercises.
Earlier this month, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had “preliminary talks” on the issue with Macron and publicly theorized that German air force planes could be used to transport French nuclear bombs.
France and Britain also passed a joint declaration in July that would allow both nations’ nuclear forces to be “coordinated” while independent. The UK, no longer an EU member but a NATO ally, is the only European country with a nuclear deterrent.
Macron has consistently insisted that any decision to use France’s nuclear weapons rests solely in the hands of the French president.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
(tags to translate) nuclear weapons
