Three start-ups are developing French water bomber planes. Is this good news?
“Yes, we are on the right track, but I think we need to speed up the process. Because for the moment, there is no firm order that has been placed by the French State. We need to move up a gear. Placing an order means sending a positive message by saying that we trust these projects and these French manufacturers. And for them, it will allow them to accelerate the development of their projects. »
Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has been at the heart of a controversy in recent weeks, accused of having cut 53 million euros from the budget devoted to Civil Security resources, which would have prevented the purchase of two Canadairs. What about it?
“In 2022, the President of the Republic said that we were going to buy 16 Canadairs. Everyone understood that there was the renewal of the 12 existing Canadairs, plus the purchase of four new ones. Among these four, two had been planned as part of the 2024 finance bill which underwent credit cancellation in February 2024 by Gabriel Attal. These credits were postponed, but the firm order was postponed due to the cancellation of these credits, which risks delaying the delivery of the Canadairs. »
In the 2026 finance bill, we saw an increase in the Civil Security budget. Is this increase real?
“It’s a distorted increase. On paper, we have the impression that there is an increase in the Civil Security budget in 2026, which is factually true. But when we look closely at the lines, it is essentially due to the order of the two Canadairs. There are other lines in the budget that have been lowered. For example, that of the capabilities pact. On the capacity pact, it is the subsidies to help with the renewal of CCFs, fire-fighting trucks, which have been affected. »
“We need a programming law, as for the Army, lasting over time”
What points of vigilance should be observed in the next budget?
“There was the Beauvau of Civil Security, with a lot of consensus being found. These points must be included in a civil security bill. However, today, we have no visibility. We are potentially being told of a bill in the fall that would first arrive in the Senate. But this is not confirmed very clearly. We urgently need to have a real law to modernize civil security.
And then, we must be able to have multi-year programming. We must not be able, depending on political or other circumstances, to be able to cancel credits. We need a long-term programming law, like for the Army, because manufacturers and investors need visibility and confidence. What is also important is to have several measures in favor of volunteering. Of the 250,000 firefighters, we have 180,000 volunteer firefighters. If we cannot sustain them, support them to facilitate their commitment, there is no point in having equipment, if we do not have the men and women to put face to face. »
France rents aircraft to fight fires. Is this a viable long-term solution?
“All countries rent. For now, we can’t do without it. But in the medium and long term, we are going to have a real difficulty because today things are burning in several European countries at the same time. Everyone will try to rent aircraft, which will create pressure on rentals, on the availability of aircraft, and push prices up, which is already the case. Rental can, however, be a good solution for specific devices that will only be used two or three months a year, in addition to a national fleet. »
