They never had much of a budget to begin with. Their budget has consistently hovered between 40-50 Billion. It only surpassed 50 billion within the last 2 years.

The U.S Marines Budget for 2023 in comparison was 53 Billion.

1 Branch of our Military gets the equivalent of their yearly budget.

Their budget is split between 6 branches. Not to mention several joint R&D projects with the French.

Not to mention I’ve been told at least their acquisition/ordnance board is exclusively civilian. And a slow moving bloated bureaucracy on top of it.

I’d imagine there is some obligatory graft/corruption. There always is. But I’d imagine the bulk of their problems are just from being underfunded and Western Europe being violently allergic to anything resembling Militarism/Nationalism following WW2 and the Cold War.

They never had much to begin with. Their budget has consistently hovered between 40-50 Billion. It only surpassed 50 billion within the last 2 years.

The U.S Marines Budget for 2023 in comparison was 53 Billion.

1 Branch of our Military gets the equivalent of their yearly budget.

Their budget is split between 6 branches. Not to mention several joint R&D projects with the French.

Not to mention I’ve been told at least their acquisition/ordnance board is exclusively civilian. And a slow moving bloated bureaucracy on top of it.