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Military Stockpiles: A Life-Insurance Policy in a High-Intensity Conflict?

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The war in Ukraine is a reminder of the place of attrition from high-intensity conflict in European armies that have been cut to the bone after three decades of budget cuts. All European forces have had to reduce their stocks to the bare minimum. As a result, support to Ukraine has meant a significant drain on their operational capabilities. A significant amount of decommissioned systems were also donated, due to the lack of depth in operational fleets.

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Russia, for its part, has mobilized the vast stocks inherited from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to support its war effort after the initial failure of its "special military operation". The process of renovating the oldest systems was also increased, while Russian production of modern equipment remained insufficient.
 
The current conflict therefore sees mixed fleets of very modern systems and much older - even obsolete - ones from long-term stocks. This situation prompts us to question the stockpiling strategies of the French armies and to compare them to those that exist elsewhere.
 
> This publication is also available in French: Stocks militaires : une assurance-vie en haute intensité ?
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979-10-373-0685-2

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Military Stockpiles: A Life-Insurance Policy in a High-Intensity Conflict?

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Léo PÉRIA-PEIGNÉ

Léo PÉRIA-PEIGNÉ

Intitulé du poste

Research Fellow, Security Studies Center, Ifri

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 A soldier watching a sunset on an armored infantry fighting vehicle
Security Studies Center
Accroche centre

Heir to a tradition dating back to the founding of Ifri, the Security Studies Center provides public and private decision-makers as well as the general public with the keys to understanding power relations and contemporary modes of conflict as well as those to come. Through its positioning at the juncture of politics and operations, the credibility of its civil-military team and the wide distribution of its publications in French and English, the Center for Security Studies constitutes in the French landscape of think tanks a unique center of research and influence on the national and international defense debate.

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Group of kamkazza combat drones against the background of sky and clouds, top view, 3d rendering. Concept: war in Ukraine, drone attack.
Observatory on Future Conflicts
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The Observatory of Future Conflicts is a research program carried out by the French Institute of International Relations and the Foundation for Strategic Research on behalf of the three army headquarters aimed at studying developments in tensions and armaments at the horizon 2040 in a transversal perspective, taking into account the issues of each army.

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Multiple Launch Rocket Systems Europe’s Long-standing and Enduring Dependence?

Date de publication
10 February 2026
Accroche

The war in Ukraine has underlined the importance of multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) in modern conflict, especially a war without clear air superiority and hence a reduced potential for air-launched deep strike. In 2022, the European MLRS fleet was split between a variety of Western platforms developed at the end of the Cold War and specialized in precision strikes.
 

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Autonomous Systems in the Underwater Domain: A Limitless Revolution?

Date de publication
15 January 2026
Accroche

One of the decisive strategic factors in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war is the mass use of aerial, maritime, and terrestrial autonomous capabilities, which are transforming the face of the battlefield. Nevertheless, many of these drones are still remotely piloted, operated, or supervised, testifying to the fact that the autonomization of military capabilities is still at an embryonic stage.

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France has a new nuclear doctrine of ‘forward deterrence’ for Europe. What does it mean?

Date de publication
05 March 2026
Accroche

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a speech on France’s nuclear deterrence at the Île Longue naval base near Brest in Brittany, which hosts the country’s nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines. Such addresses are a well-established presidential ritual, typically delivered once per presidential term and receiving moderate attention. This one, however, was highly anticipated in France and abroad, given the profound geopolitical shifts since Macron’s first nuclear speech in February 2020.

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Bundeswehr: From Zeitenwende (historic turning point) to Epochenbruch (epochal shift)

Date de publication
25 February 2026
Accroche

The Zeitenwende (historic turning point) announced by Olaf Scholz on February 27, 2022, is shifting into high gear. Financially supported by the March 2025 reform of Germany’s “debt break” and backed by a broad political and societal consensus to strengthen and modernize the Bundeswehr, Germany's military capabilities are set to rapidly increase over the coming years. Expected to assume a central role in the defense of the European continent in the context of changing transatlantic relations, Berlin’s military-political position on the continent is being radically transformed. 

Johanna MÖHRING

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Military Stockpiles: A Life-Insurance Policy in a High-Intensity Conflict?