Following his earlier vow in March 2010, France's Defense Ministry will slash spending by 3.5 billion euros between 2011 and 2013 to contribute to the government's efforts to contain the public deficit, an official close to the matter said this past week.

The cuts (less than 4% of the defense budget if pensions are not taken into account) will be partly compensated by some 2 billion euros to be generated from a one-time sale of buildings, the official said.

These cuts would not affect production and delivery of weaponry, planes, ships or nuclear submarines, he added.

The defense budget was provisionally pegged at 95 billion euros for the period from 2011 to 2013 but with the spending cuts, the figure would now be around 91.6 billion euros, he concluded.