PANews reported on March 2nd that French President Emmanuel Macron stated that France will increase its nuclear warhead stockpile to strengthen Europe's atomic deterrent due to wavering US security commitments to the continent. He added that the US will play a key role in European defense, but warned that recent rhetoric from Washington suggests Europe needs to assume a greater role in its own defense. As the leader of the EU's only nuclear-armed state, Macron faces increasing questions about whether he will extend France's atomic defense to the entire continent. According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, France currently possesses 290 nuclear warheads, roughly the same level as in 1984. France's nuclear arsenal peaked in the early 1990s with as many as 540 warheads. These warheads are distributed in air-dropped weapons and M51 submarine-launched ballistic missiles.