France wants to join British-German long-range missile project

Paris's interest also reflects President Emmanuel Macron's growing conviction that the development of advanced conventional weapons would be a valuable complement to France's nuclear deterrent.

Although France had initially been involved in talks with Germany and the UK to collaborate on the development of a long-range strike capability, Paris had later backed out due to the ongoing debate over its nuclear doctrine.

In a speech in March 2025, Macron outlined how France could implicitly protect its neighbours with its nuclear deterrent, announcing talks with six countries willing to participate, including Germany. However, he also emphasised the importance of long-range missiles, air defence and surveillance to manage escalation "before the nuclear threshold is crossed".

French officials concluded that joining the Anglo-German programme would help 'reduce the gap' between conventional and nuclear deterrence.

The Anglo-German long-range precision strike proposal, which is part of the six-country project known as Elsa, still remains at the conceptual stage. The two countries have agreed to include in the programme stealth cruise missiles and hypersonic weapons that travel at very high speeds on unpredictable trajectories, making them difficult to track. The initial focus will be on ground-launched systems.

Among the companies involved in the Anglo-German discussions are the pan-European missile manufacturer Mbda and the Anglo-German start-up Hypersonics, which announced in February that it had become the first privately owned European defence company to successfully complete a hypersonic test flight.

Paris proposes that ArianeGroup, jointly owned by the European aerospace group Airbus and France's Safran, could join the programme to provide carrier rockets capable of launching hypersonic weapons into the Earth's atmosphere. Ariane currently produces the M51 ballistic missile for the French nuclear programme.

French officials believe that their involvement in the programme could accelerate the development of the new long-range missiles, which, according to the UK and Germany, are expected to enter service in the early 2030s and will be among the most advanced missile systems ever designed. Macron had hinted that he was interested in joining the Anglo-German programme, explicitly citing the two countries as partners with whom he wishes to collaborate in the development of advanced long-range weapons. "This will offer new options for conventional escalation at a time when adversaries are deploying new technologies and weapons," he said.

A joint Franco-German statement, published after the speech, also pledged to develop capabilities that include precision deep-sea attacks.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius gave the first explicit acknowledgement of French interest in the Anglo-German programme earlier this month, stating: 'Now the French want to join us, and do it as soon as possible.

Berlin welcomes the accession of Paris with enthusiasm. In London, however, there is some apprehension among some officials about the possibility of France joining a project that has been discussed with Berlin for more than 18 months.

Some fear that the entry of a new partner with its own weapon concepts, as well as its own industrial interests in the defence sector, could debilitate the project. A number of Franco-German defence collaborations have failed due to political and industrial tensions, including the project to build a joint combat aircraft under the Fcas programme, which is on the verge of collapse.

However, the UK and France together successfully developed the Storm Shadow/Scalp missile, which entered service in the 2000s.

Together with Germany, the three countries represent the largest economic and military powers in Europe and have a long history of cooperation on national security issues.