PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron promised an "unprecedented" hike in defense spending next year and vowed to safeguard the country's nuclear deterrent, as he tries to show his commitment to the troops amid a crisis over the military budget. Macron flew in a C-135 military jet and visited nuclear forces at the Istres air base in southern France on Thursday a day after the head of the French military quit in a damaging dispute with Macron over budget cuts.