With a probable clash with Russia four years away, the Armed Forces are preparing. The Army, whose role is and will be central, has embarked on a genuine transformation: a change in scale, model and operating methods. Between capability priorities, funding and public-private partnerships, France is collectively preparing for high-intensity conflict. One watchword: be ready, move fast. AN INTERVIEW WITH MAJOR GENERAL JUSTEL, DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE FRENCH ARMY BY MÉLANIE

For a long time structured around major programs developed over several decades, defence innovation is now entering a new phase. The war in Ukraine has highlighted the importance of shorter innovation cycles capable of integrating drones, artificial intelligence, cognitive warfare, and autonomous systems. Without calling into question the need for major strategic programs, armed forces are now seeking to combine industrial power with agile innovation. Amid technological sover

War has returned to the European continent. This is not a metaphor, nor a working hypothesis for military planners: it is a reality that our intelligence services now translate into concrete aggression scenarios against EU and NATO member states. The question is no longer whether Europe must rearm. It is whether Europe is still capable of doing so — and how fast. MEETING WITH ANDRIUS KUBILIUS, EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR DEFENCE AND SPACE. INTERVIEW BY MÉLANIE BÉNARD-CROZAT AND

The war in Ukraine has reminded Europe of a reality that several decades of peace had at times pushed to the margins of our collective imagination: the defence of a nation is not the business of its armed forces alone. It calls for a broader mobilization, a shared understanding of the threats, a capacity to accept the effort required, and a common will to preserve our freedom of action. In an environment marked by the return of high-intensity warfare, the hybridization of con

By General Didier Tisseyre, French Air Force Corps General (Ret.) Senior Consultant in Cybersecurity and Digital StrategiesFormer Commander of French Cyber DefenceFormer Director of Infrastructure Networks and Information Systems at the French Ministry for the Armed Forces. One hundred and seventeen thousand-dollar drones destroy forty strategic bombers deep inside Siberia. A robotic assault captures a position without a single infantryman setting foot on it. In just a few ye

By Lieutenant General (Ret.) Jean-Philippe LECOUFFE, Deputy Executive Director of EUROPOL, in charge of Operations Threats are converging. Our responses must converge too. In my role at Europol, I see every day just how porous the traditional boundaries between internal and external security have become. The phenomenon is not new, but in these times of international tension, its acceleration and amplification are clearly perceptible. Yet our institutions remain organised arou

The war in Ukraine has profoundly transformed Europe’s security environment. It has served as a reminder that the defence of the continent can no longer be conceived solely within the long timeframe of capability programmes, nor through a fragmented logic. Faced with the return of high-intensity conflict and lasting geopolitical unpredictability, Europe must strengthen its capacity to anticipate, produce, protect, and respond to crises. By Thomas Regnier, European Commission

By Guy-Philippe Goldstein, lecturer at the École de Guerre Économique, essayist and novelist Thinking about the future of war means understanding whether the coming technological decade will arm the sword or the shield, the offense or the defense. On that question hinges the future price of aggression and that of the stability of borders. Who is going to win? Today, advantage to the defense? Seen from mid-2026, the shield prevails. Three years after its "special military oper

By Grégoire Chauvière Le Drian, Representative of the European Investment Bank (EIB) in France As defence industry leaders and investors gather at Eurosatory 2026, one question increasingly shapes the debate: how can Europe finance the capabilities required to ensure its security and strategic autonomy in a rapidly changing world? The answer extends well beyond defence budgets alone which is currently discussed in the French Parliament. Building a more resilient Europe requir

Long associated with the most extreme scenarios, the nuclear, radiological, biological, and chemical (CBRN) threat is now returning to the European strategic debate. The war in Ukraine, the deterioration of the international environment, the circumvention of norms, and the rise of hybrid threats remind us that CBRN can no longer be regarded as a strictly technical subject. It now belongs to a broader reflection: operational adaptation, the resilience of societies, and Europe'

By Jean-Louis Thiériot, Member of Parliament for Seine-et-Marne, former Minister Delegate for the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs The uninhibited resort to force, a symptom of the return of power politics, overturns three decades of illusions: those of the peace dividend and of a conflict confined to the margins of History. Faced with this turning point, the tempo of our rearmament effort must absolutely accelerate, grounded in a clear-eyed assessment of the new security ch

We are living through a pivotal moment for the security of our continent: the unleashing of violence and the ambitions of territorial expansion have become the new reality of international relations. We, the French and Europeans, must fully absorb the lessons of the National Strategic Review and prepare for a high-intensity conflict, while also defending ourselves in the hybrid war already under way, with its attacks, sabotage and intrusions into our airspace. It is therefore