French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called for a boost to defence budgets following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying France was now on a "war economy" footing.

Speaking at Eurosatory, a weapons industry fair, Macron said Europe needed "a much larger defence industry" to avoid relying on suppliers elsewhere for its equipment needs.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, France "has entered into a war economy in which I believe we will find ourselves for a long time".

Macron said he had asked the defence ministry and armed forces chiefs of staff to adjust a six-year framework defence spending plan running to 2025 to the new geopolitical situation, to "match the means to the threats".

Even before Ukraine, French military spending had gradually increased since Macron came to power in 2017 to reach 41 billion euros ($43 billion) this year, and is currently scheduled to hit 50 billion euros in 2025.

"We didn't wait for strategic changes to re-invest," Macron said, but Russia's war had created "an additional need to move faster and become stronger at a lower cost".

Macron said that "anybody doubting the urgency of these efforts only needs to look to Ukraine, where soldiers are asking for quality weaponry and they are entitled to a response from us".

According to Le Monde newspaper, the government's armament agency DGA is considering a draft law that would allow the requisitioning of civilian equipment or civilian factories to make weapons.

As European governments bolster defence budgets, they need a larger EU-based defence industry to meet the new military needs, Macron said.

"Let's not repeat the errors of the past going forward," he said. "Spending large sums on purchases from elsewhere is not a good idea."

Europe needs a defence industry that is "much stronger and much more ambitious" than now, he said, "or we will create our own future dependencies".

A European fighter plan project is, according to experts, currently running about a decade late, while a new French-German battle tank project, MGCS, is not expected to be operational for nearly another two decades.

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Ukraine dependent on arms from allies after exhausting Soviet-era weaponry
Washington (AFP) June 10, 2022
Ukraine has depleted its Soviet and Russian-designed weaponry and is now completely dependent on allies for arms to defend against Russia's invasion, US military sources say. Once part of the Soviet Union, Ukraine's army and its defense industry were built around Soviet and Russian-standard equipment, small arms, tanks, howitzers and other weapons not interchangeable with those of neighbors to the west. More than three months into the conflict sparked when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, ... read more