France Provides Ukraine With New Batch Of Long-Range Weapons

• 10.11.2024, 13:41

The range of the SCALP missiles is 560 km.

France will provide Ukraine with a new batch of long-range SCALP missiles. The Ministry of Defence is preparing to send them.

This was stated by French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche.

He noted that partners should maintain assistance to Ukraine at a stable level, as this will also allow the Ukrainian authorities to consider political decisions when they decide to do it.

"Military support is important, and even when the war is over, the Ukrainian army will need to continue to be strengthened," Lecornu said.

The minister stressed that France will continue the training program for 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers who are training with French equipment.

The head of the Ministry of Defence predicts that Russia's strikes deep into Ukrainian territory may intensify in winter. According to him, France will provide Ukraine with Mistral portable air defence systems and SCALP missiles.

"To enable Ukraine to strike at the frontline, in recent days I have signed a new transfer of about ten SCALP missiles, as promised by French President Volodymyr Zelensky," the minister said.

SCALP is the French version of the Storm Shadow cruise missile, a joint development between Britain and France. The French and British versions of the missile are almost identical. The differences are only in the software and the carrier aircraft.

The range of the SCALP missiles is 560 km. But there is an export version with a reduced range of 290 km and a smaller warhead.