Wildfires near Bordeaux threaten French nuclear deterrent sites and Rafale assembly line

PARIS — Wildfires raging west of the French city of Bordeaux are threatening several of France's key defense-industrial sites, including:

• An ArianeGroup facility that produces propulsion components for the M51 submarine-launched ballistic missile
• Dassault Aviation's final assembly line for the Rafale fighter jet
• One of Roxel's main manufacturing sites for solid rocket motors used in MBDA missiles

Industry Response

Dassault Aviation said it was moving sensitive equipment from a site closest to the wildfires to one nearer Bordeaux, with most workers staying home in line with instructions issued by the authorities.

ArianeGroup had evacuated its affected sites.

The French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) closed its military nuclear research site near Bordeaux as the wildfires approached.

Fire Overview

The Gironde department of southwest France has been battling one of the country's largest wildfires on record, with over 100,000 acres burned — an area roughly four times the size of Paris. The fires in recent days approached the cluster of defense and aerospace sites west of Bordeaux that represents one of France's most important concentrations of missile, propulsion, combat aircraft, and military electronics production.

France's military deployed an Airbus A400M aircraft to help fight out-of-control wildfires burning west of the wine city of Bordeaux in late July 2026.

Dassault Aviation Details

Dassault Aviation had to move "a certain number of sensitive equipment" from its site in Martignas and a logistics center in Cestas to its site in Mérignac and the local Air Base 106, working in close cooperation with France's Directorate General for Armament and local authorities, the aircraft maker said in an emailed statement late Monday.

Satellite data on Tuesday morning showed wildfires remained active less than 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) west of Dassault's Martignas site, which is the wing assembly plant for the Rafale jet, before final assembly of the aircraft in Mérignac.

NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System showed fires and hot spots west of Bordeaux were significantly reduced as of 9:00 a.m. local time, though authorities have warned that a new wave of hot weather with a peak on Wednesday, combined with near-record drought conditions, could cause fire activity to pick up again.

Employees at the Mérignac and Martignas plants are staying home, in line with instructions issued by authorities, unless they've been evacuated, Dassault Aviation said. Those still working are the teams necessary for the transfer of equipment and those in charge of protecting the site to help with fire-fighting efforts.

ArianeGroup Response

ArianeGroup is working in close cooperation with local and national authorities, and the company's sites west of Bordeaux "have been evacuated, and all necessary measures have been taken to secure them," the space-launch company said in an emailed reply to questions. The firm said it is not commenting on security measures around its sites.

Satellite data as of Tuesday morning showed active wildfires around:

• 12 kilometers west of ArianeGroup's Candale site, where the propulsion units of the M51 missile stages are integrated and assembled
• 13 kilometers from the site of Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, where the missile is fueled
• 16 kilometers from the Le Haillan site, which produces the company's solid-propulsion systems

Strategic Concerns

"Whilst the unprecedented forest fires in Gironde are above all an environmental and humanitarian disaster, they also threaten sites that are of vital strategic importance to our nuclear deterrent," said Etienne Marcuz, an associate fellow at the Foundation pour la Recherche Stratégique, in a post on the social media network X on Sunday.

Emergency Response

Emergency services aided by local construction companies worked during the night of Friday to Saturday and throughout the day to clear vegetation and create firebreaks around a number of sensitive sites, Gironde department Prefect Sophie Brocas said in a press conference on Saturday.

Marc Vermeulen, the head of the Gironde department fire and emergency service, said that after protecting lives, the next priority was safeguarding critical infrastructure.

Firefighters use counterfires to remove vegetation ahead of a wildfire, creating a fuel-free buffer zone in Marcheprime, west of Bordeaux, France, on July 26, 2026. (Alain Jocard / AFP via Getty Images)