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European Defense Planning and the Ukraine Crisis: Two Contrasting Views

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Focus Stratégique
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As the Ukrainian crisis continues, it is now clear that Europe is facing a new strategic environment and needs to adapt.

Corps analyses

These developments challenge the expeditionary posture adopted by NATO over the last twenty years, and imply a need to rethink the demand for strengthening collective defense and reassurance capabilities. The two papers presented in this issue approach this question from different angles. On the one hand, an outlook based on the Estonian experience as a frontline state, supports the idea to reinvest in heavy conventional capabilities. On the other hand, a more organizational approach, embodied by the concept of “joint force generation,” which proposes keeping the same force structure while binding European militaries together with common support platforms.

 

This Focus Stratégique was published with the support of RESET Program.

 

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978-2-36567-394-5

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European Defense Planning and the Ukraine Crisis: Two Contrasting Views

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Security Studies Center
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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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Taking the Pulse: Is France’s New Nuclear Doctrine Ambitious Enough?

Date de publication
12 March 2026
Accroche

French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled his country’s new nuclear doctrine. Are the changes he has made enough to reassure France’s European partners in the current geopolitical context?

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Macron Offers a Promising Vision for Nuclear Deterrence in Europe

Date de publication
11 March 2026
Accroche

Macron’s concept of ‘forward deterrence’ offers a distinctly European approach to nuclear deterrence.

Héloïse FAYET Darya DOLZIKOVA
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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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European Defense Planning and the Ukraine Crisis: Two Contrasting Views