France exhibited military muscle and alliances in the parade of its national holiday on July 14only one day after President Emmanuel Macron asked for a new increase in defense spending in the next two years.
More than 7,000 soldiers participated in the parade this Monday for the Elysee fields of PariS, of them 5,600 on foot, as well as a hundred aircraft and about 250 vehicles.
France showed some of the defense systems that most export success They are having in recent years, like Rafale combat aircraft or caesar self -propelled cannons.
They also highlighted units with drones, a technology that has revealed itself fundamental in the modern battlefield, as the current war in Ukraine is showing.
In addition, in the parade Finnish troops participated that are part of a contingent set with France within the UN blue helmets’ in Lebanonas well as a Belgoluxemburguesa company integrated into an NATO Battalion highlighted in Romania and commanded by France.
Spain joined with an Airbus A400M strategic transport plane, which flew over the iconic Parisian avenue along with three other aircraft of the same model, and also with a Eurofighter hunt.
Aircraft from Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Switzerland also participated in the air component of the parade.
The guest country of this occasion was Indonesia, one of the most important political allies in Paris in Asia and one of the best clients of French weapons abroad.
It is a logic similar to that applied two years ago with the special invitation to India and its troops, together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Indonesia has bought 42 Rafale aircraft, two A400m, two conventional submarines and thirteen long -range radars in the last four years, that are added to the Caesar canyons already bought since 2012.
In addition, the country of Southeast Asia negotiates the purchase of revival aircraft in flight Airbus A330 MRTT and there are conversations underway to add more rafale and fall, as well as additional submarines and light frigates from France to the Indonesian arsenals, although with important industrial counterparts.
The Indonesian President, Prabowo Subiantostrategically placed on the honor podium with President Emmanuel Macron, He proudly witnessed the 260 military parade of the three weapons of his countrythat were accompanied by the famous military fanfare ‘Gabundan’, with 190 musicians.
The parade, which included units from different police and firefighters (a militarized body in France), concluded as traditional with two hundred men on horseback of the Republican Guard.
This July 14 parade arrives after Macron proposed last night a new budget effort for defense, even though Public accounts must make an adjustment in the coming years to cut the strong deficit.
If the Government manages to approve in Parliament this new item of 6,500 million euros in two years, the spending in defense of France will have doubled in a decade, of the 32,000 million in 2017, when the Macron Presidency assumed, up to 64,000 million of 2027 (around 2.3 % of GDP).
Macron, in a traditional speech on defense on the eve of the French national holiday, justified this increase in which To “be free you have to be feared” and also to set an example to the European partners of France.
“The benefits of the peace of those who enjoyed our parents have ended,” justified the president, which still argued that the increase in military spending “will not be in vain for the nation”, but “it will also be a source of wealth for our GDP, our economy and our territories.”
The Chief of the Joint Chief of the French Armed Forces, General Thierry Burkhard, warned last Friday, in a very unusual press conference, that Russia considers France as its “main adversary” in Europe after Ukraine.
