Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 15:45-16:10

How France might replace weak prewar light anti-aircraft guns

Without wartime combat evidence, France would probably replace its 37 mm and 13.2 mm weapons through the normal development cycle rather than an emergency program.

Alternate HistoryFrench NavyNaval Anti Aircraft GunsNaval Weapons Development
Watch at this timeFull video guide
Question

Without World War II, what would France replace its 37 mm guns and 13.2 mm machine guns with once their weaknesses became clear?

Short answer

Probably a later French-developed upgrade introduced through normal modernization, because the need would be less urgent and less publicly obvious without wartime experience.

Notes

The weakness of the existing light anti-aircraft battery might not become publicly undeniable without the Second World War. French planners would still accumulate evidence through trials and normal service experience. A later domestic weapon would probably appear through an ordinary modernization cycle, while combat experience would have compressed that timeline. The counterfactual changes urgency more clearly than it changes the eventual need for replacement.