Security & Defence

Iraq is close to signing a contract in 2026 for 14 Rafale F4 fighter jets for the Iraqi Air Force. Negotiations, which began in 2022, have reportedly accelerated, according to sources, and might be completed in the first half of 2026. Iraq had earlier considered the purchase of JF-17 Thunder

In 2025, the Nigeria banditry wave intensifies and spreads to the northern and central states that increases humanitarian burdens and complicates the counter-crime and counter-insurgency structure of the government. Although the total attacks are said to have decreased by 17 per cent in the first quarter, the officials report that

French President Emmanuel Macron used his December 5, 2025, stop in Chengdu to reassert cohesion among Western partners after a Der Spiegel report claimed he had privately questioned U.S. reliability in conversations with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He rejected the report outright, stating that unity between Americans and Europeans remained

In an effort to negotiate the terms of a fair and sustainable peace, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will come to Paris on December 1, 2025, to have intensive talks with the French President Emmanuel Macron. The Elysee Palace termed the meeting as an extension of the Geneva structure and the

France Televisions, evacuation renewed the interest of the French on the trend of bomb threats against French media houses. It happened at 17:30 local time, when a live discussion on Ukraine was interrupted by alarms. France 2, France 3 and France Info also went to emergency programming shortly after presenter

France enters 2025 facing intensified security uncertainty, prompting President Emmanuel Macron to introduce a voluntary military service framed around the Revival of National Service. The shift reflects pressures stemming from Russia’s sustained aggression, hybrid warfare trends, and doubts surrounding transatlantic reliability as the United States recalibrates priorities under President Donald

The revival of voluntary service in France comes at a time when Europe was more insecure. As Russian invasion of Ukraine reaches the fourth year of invasion in 2025, President Emmanuel Macron has increasingly raised the alarm over an increasingly hostile strategic environment. In his visit to the 27th Mountain

The Eurofiber data breach uncovered has become one of France’s most consequential cybersecurity incidents of the year. Eurofiber France, a major provider of telecom infrastructure and cloud connectivity, confirmed that its internal GLPI IT asset management system and ATE customer portal were compromised through sustained exploitation of a vulnerable software

In a new fighting back against drug trafficking, the United States introduced a massive military buildup in the Caribbean, covering such military equipment as advanced fighter jets, battle ships and submarines. Directed by President Donald Trump, this has been the biggest US military deployment in the area since the 1994

France increased diplomatic involvement with the Palestinian Authority (PA), compelling it to make reforms to terminate systems of controversial payment of prisoners and enhance governance. This new engagement is in tandem with the general European moves towards accountability and political transparency in Palestinian institutions. France has a position within the

The theft of priceless crown jewels of France from the Louvre Museum in Paris on October 19, 2025, highlighted an egregious failure to safeguard one of France’s most valuable cultural assets. This carefully planned theft occurred in broad daylight and revealed major holes in museum security and its protocol to

The Louvre Museum, the most frequented cultural establishment in the globe, is under growing scrutiny in 2025 due to its seemingly lackluster nature in terms of security infrastructure in spite of its massive resources. A scathing audit conducted by the state auditor of France, the Cour des Comptes, showed that

The EUFOR-Althea mandate of the United Nations Security Council was renewed, giving the mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina one more year. Resolution 2795 was unanimously adopted restating international determination to stability in Chapter VII with Bosnia and Herzegovina being unable to contain almost 30 years of incessant political disintegration, almost

The Abu Dhabi military base of France is one of the highlights of the long-term military activity in the Gulf region. The installation was the first permanent French base outside Africa since the post-colonial period, which was created as a part of the bilateral defense pact with the United Arab

The military efforts by France at the end of 2025 are an analytical reaction to increased Iranian aggression in the major sea routes. The presence of French military in the Gulf is a focus on the redeployment of the Charles de Gaulle carrier group towards the Gulf, which is the

The ethics of defence exports is a key issue within France as concerns its place in the world and strategic stance. By 2025 France is a leading exporter of weapons in the world, and this situation represents an old policy of this country, which positions sales of defence equipment at

The quest of European defense by President Emmanuel Macron has emerged as a major focus of transatlantic security discussions. His idea aims at having a Europe that would be able to handle its own defense requirements but have a cooperative relationship with NATO. The concept of strategic sovereignty proposed by

Strategic autonomy is now a key part of the geopolitical vision of the European Union, which, over the years, has changed into a conception with more of a defensive character to a more encompassing political, technological, and economic autonomy. The term denotes the ability of the EU to take major

France joined the Global Coalition against Daesh in 2014 and has been at the forefront in the fight to deal with ISIS and stabilizing the territories that had been freed of the group in Iraq. Such French military operations as Operation Chammal were originally built around actions by airstrike on

The defense landscape in Europe in 2025 is changing radically. The Lancaster House 2.0 agreement between the United Kingdom and France is not only a continuation of that of 2010 but a rebalanced desire of self-reliance strategically. It reinstates the definition of what European independence might entail in a period

In August 2025, India announced that it had agreed to collaborate with Safran of France to develop a new-generation jet engine, which will be a major change in India aerospace and defence policy. The co-development agreement seeks to develop a 120 kN class engine to the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft

The nuclear deterrent policy of France has been in stark contrast with that of the other western powers because of its insistence on strategic independence and unilateral sovereignty. This doctrine is still one of the aspects of the French defense posture in 2025. Based on post-World War II and Cold

In September 2025, France was caught in a wave of national protests which do not simply represent opposition to fiscal policy. The so-called “Block Everything” movement has provoked one of the greatest shocks of French life and ruling in the last decade. Austerity was triggered by a EUR44 billion plan,

France has also taken a leading role in the combating of digital disinformation and it does not perceive it as a simple communication problem but a direct threat to national security. The new approach of the government is in response to the apparent increase in the misinformation campaigns, which threaten

In 2025, with President Emmanuel Macron introducing a multinational reassurance force, comprising 26 countries that have committed to providing Ukraine with postwar troop support, a new phase in European security relationships is expected. The plan is aimed at securing peace upon the termination of hostilities and providing, both, a military

France and Germany committed together in late August 2025 to increased air defense assistance to Ukraine following a stinging rise in Russian drone and missile attacks. A recent kill-and-dozen attack on Kyiv resulted in the deaths of at least 23 civilians and dozens more injured, raising the urgency of Ukraine

In 2025 the border between the political sphere and the sporting one has become more indistinct with political protests becoming more apparent at the international sport event. One of the most striking instances was the Tour de France incident, in which a pro-Palestinian protester attempted to stop the race by

One of the biggest attacks on European energy infrastructure in recent history was the sabotage of Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in September 2022. Three of the four pipeline lines that were under the Baltic Sea that carried natural gas to Germany were damaged due to a series of

The discovery of Camarat 4 at 8,421 feet away off the coast of Ramatuelle is one of the milestones in maritime archaeology. The shipwreck was found in March 2025 and is the deepest known shipwreck in France and thus operates as an excellent source of information about the trade dynamics

The France private security industry matured into a booming stage in 2025 as it answers to the increased societal need of protection through the escalation of crime, threats of terrorism, and cyber-attacks. The industry is pegged at around 9.3 billion euros ( 10.1 billion USD ) and its growth has

During the volatile World War II years, there might hardly have been more complicated and contentious states than undisputedly France on the one hand Vichy regime and the other hand? A victim of occupation, collaboration, and rebellion, which side Vichy France was on in WWII still remains a debate question

In August 2025, the French government stopped the renewal of work visas of Israeli air company El Al security staff based at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. The aggrieved persons were on ITAN-category visas which are normally issued to Israeli nationals who are linked to diplomatic or other sensitive jobs.

The introduction by Orange of its Security & Defence Division in 2025 therefore represents a strategic move in terms of accompanying the growing need in Europe regarding access to historically independent infrastructures that are also secure and digitally innovative towards defence. The program is part of a larger resetting of

In 2025, French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) positioned itself on the issue of cryptocurrency differently than it had a few years earlier, as it took the side of state-sponsored Bitcoin mining, unlike its previous idea of a total ban. The shift has been symptomatic of a broader reorientation of how

The 2025 defence technological and industrial base (BITD) of France is a web of major actors with highlights being Dassault Aviation, MBDA, Thales, Naval Group, Safran and Airbus Defence & Space. Coupled with niche suppliers such as Exail and Eurenco, these companies cover strategic fields like nuclear deterrence, marine systems,

As of July 2025, France formally ended its military involvement in West Africa with the relinquishment of Camp Geille in Dakar, Senegal: the end of a 65 years history of military involvement throughout the region. This took the form of the symbolic lowering of the French flag which ended a

In July 2025, the principal French naval defense contractor, the Naval Group, succumbed to a mega cyber-hack that could have undermined the backbone of the national defense. The hacker group known as “Neferpitou” claimed responsibility for the attack and posted 13 gigabytes of data samples from an alleged 1-terabyte cache

The UK-France MicroCarb satellite that was launched on July 26, 2025 is a major milestone in the world attempts to gain knowledge about climate change and strive to mitigate it. MicroCarb is the first European satellite dedicated to carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) measurement in the atmosphere to very fine

France and Germany, the European Union’s foremost military powers, renewed their public commitment to joint defense in 2025 amid mounting geopolitical pressures. With Russia’s war in Ukraine entering its fourth year and U.S. security guarantees becoming less predictable, the push for “European strategic autonomy” gained renewed urgency. Summits of leaders

By the year 2025, both Hungary and France are cementing a bilateral relationship with a strong footing on the collaboration of nuclear energy. Such a strategic integration will enhance Europe energy security in the long term, overcome emerging geopolitical insecurity, and satisfy growing electricity requirements, given climate demands. Both governments

On July 23, 2025, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz met in Berlin to recalibrate their countries’ positions on key transatlantic issues. With NATO’s eastern flank under continued strain and trade relations with the United States teetering under tariff threats, the summit marked a critical moment for

Ministries in France and Italy formally refused to take part in a US-led NATO plan that will help fund the acquisition of US arms to Ukraine in July 2025. At the White House, the White House proposed that members of European NATO use a $10 billion financing pool to purchase

French President Emmanuel Macron had already pledged to add 6.5 billion to the French defense budget in two years and to reach the level of 64 billion per year of military spending in 2027. Such speeding up of the modernization of French defense, which was to have taken place in

The Northwood declaration of 2025 between the United Kingdom and France is a turning point in European defence cooperation. This is the first time when both sovereign nuclear countries of Europe have agreed to coordinate their own nuclear deterrence and it is another sign of a united position to meet

In July 2025, Airbus Defence and Space entered into an iconic eight-year contract with France Directorate General of Armaments (DGA), whereby it would educate all the cybersecurity personnel working inside the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. A training programme, the deal is also part of the national strategy of

The July 2025 appearance of the French President Emmanuel Macron in the UK was a show that was marked by pageantry and timing and an ambitious theme; the UK and France needed to be the drivers of a new Europe in the era of geopolitical instability and social fragmentation. The

The Rafale fighter jet manufactured by Dassault Aviation in France has come out as more than a military machine. It is the emblem of national industry, strategic independence, and the French desires in the international defense sector. However, mid-2025 it became the unwitting centerpiece of a geo-political game of tug-of-war.

The threats that pose great danger to the country come in the form of drones whose numbers in France are on an upward trend. Such dangers include unauthorized spying to the threats of coordinated drone attacks on military installations, government buildings, and strategic facilities. Friction in the threat environment is

The state visit to Norway by the French President Emmanuel Macron for 2 days in June 2025 was a new milestone in the Franco-Norwegian relationships and European security at large. It is the first visit by a French president to Norway since 1984, as the countries stressed the need to