France will bring European nations into nuclear military drills and could allow its neighbours to host nuclear-capable fighter planes for the first time. President Emmanuel Macron made the announcement as growing mistrust in the United States propels once-taboo plans for the French nuclear arsenal to protect Europe. European capitals have never gone this far in making contingencies for a homegrown nuclear umbrella independent of US guarantees. Macron’s announcements, in a speech at a military base that hosts France’s nuclear submarines, amount to the first key steps towards establishing a European deterrent. Some of Macron’s predecessors in the Elysee Palace had resisted extending the French nuclear umbrella further across Europe, and other European nations were even more reluctant, for fear of alienating the US, which possesses a far larger atomic arsenal. But as a more militarised, polarised world has prompted an increasing number of nations to eye nuclear weapons - and as US President Donald Trump has injected tension into the transatlantic relationship - Macron is now going further than any French president in negotiating with other European leaders on extending France’s protection. In his speech today at the L’Ile Longue base on the Atlantic coast, Macron unveiled a shift in nuclear doctrine that will increase France’s total number of nuclear warheads for the first time in decades. He also revealed that France is in early stage talks to expand co-operation on nuclear deterrence with Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Denmark. “In this dangerous and unstable world, to be free, we must be feared,” Macron declared, standing in front of a nuclear submarine that he said carries as much firepower as all the bombs dropped on Europe in World War II. “And to be feared, we must be powerful.” France has nearly 300 nuclear warheads, while the US and Russia have thousands. Yet France is the world’s fourth-largest nuclear power - the only one in the European Union - and, unlike Britain’s, the French arsenal is nationally produced and maintained, independent of the US. As Trump presses America’s once-closest allies across to take charge of Europe’s conventional defence, US officials have offered assurances that the US nuclear umbrella will remain in place. Even so, over the past year, interest has grown in Europe about engaging Paris on how its nuclear weapons might fill gaps and protect other nations, too. Ruptures with Washington - including over Russia policy, Trump’s bid for Greenland, and the Administration’s frequent rebukes of the 27-nation EU - have left officials mistrustful of the US. In his much-awaited speech, Macron outlined what he called “forward deterrence” and described the increase in France’s nuclear warheads as necessary for credibility. He cited the US looking elsewhere, a militarily assertive Russia next-door and a rise in Chinese power. He also said France would no longer reveal how many warheads it has stockpiled. Unlike the US, France has not deployed nuclear weapons beyond its borders. American nuclear bombs, have been stationed at Nato bases in Europe, including in Germany and Belgium, since the 1950s, after the end of World War II. France’s strategy will now allow for stationing nuclear assets elsewhere in Europe in some circumstances, Macron said, referring to nuclear-armed Rafale fighter jets. “Our strategic air forces could be spread deep into the European continent,” Macron said, without ​offering details. This signalling, he added, would “complicate the calculus for our enemies”. He said that France is updating its nuclear doctrine in “full transparency” with Washington, and that any plans would be a distinct effort but “perfectly complementary” with Nato. France, a member of the Western military alliance, has maintained a nuclear posture independent of it, declining, for example, to participate in Nato’s nuclear planning group. A French Air Force Dassault Rafale B airc...