France is to reduce its armed forces by almost a fifth and close scores of bases under a defence overhaul that will increase spending on spy satellites, cruise missiles and transport.

Long-awaited defence legislative proposals – to be launched on Tuesday by President Nicolas Sarkozy – will aim to modernise Europe’s second most powerful military, creating slimmer but more deployable forces as part of a 15-year national security strategy that stretches beyond conventional territorial defence to deal with terrorism, missile strikes and natural disasters.