PARIS, Nov 2 (Reuters) – Military production for navies, including ships and submarines, has surged nearly 50% in value over the past two years, France’s Naval Group said on Monday, as Western governments respond to threats from Russia and instability in the Middle East.
• Speaking at the opening of the Euronaval defence trade show in Paris, Naval Group CEO Pierre-Eric Pommellet cited a Euronaval study showing the value of naval military production rose to $122 billion in 2024-2025 from $82 billion two years earlier
• Pommellet said China led naval military construction in 2024-2025, ahead of the US
• Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and amid war in the Middle East, Western countries have been racing to modernise their fleets
• “For 30 years, many of us treated the sea as given, open, safe, free — a place where commerce just flowed.” Pommellet said. “This era is now over”
• “Ukraine, the Black Sea, the Red Sea, the Gulf, Indo-Pacific, shadow fleets, cable cuts, drones, striking fires, missiles, mines, jamming — all at once, and it’s all very visible to our people.” he said, describing the threats facing navies
• Pommellet, who also chairs French naval industry association GICAN, called for closer cooperation among European and allied navies
• “Nobody needs a fleet alone any more. Naval programmes are increasingly European and international,” he said
• “When several navies operate the same frigate on the same ship, the same systems, the same mission systems, the same logistics, everyone gains,” he added
(Reporting by Florence Loève. Editing by Inti Landauro and Mark Potter)
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