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PARIS (Reuters) – France will deliver hundreds of old armored vehicles and Aster anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic missiles to Ukraine as part of a new aid package for Kyiv in its war against Russia, the minister said French Defense Minister, Sébastien Lecornu.
“To hold such a large front line, the Ukrainian army needs, for example, our armored front vehicles (VAB): this is absolutely key for the mobility of the troops,” explained the minister during an interview with La Tribune on Sunday.
“This old equipment, still operational, will be able to directly benefit Ukraine in significant quantities. We can talk about hundreds of them for 2024 and early 2025,” he added.
Sébastien Lecornu also declared that he was going to “unlock a new batch of Aster 30 missiles” for the SAMP/T device (medium-range ground-to-air system) supplied to Ukraine.
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The minister also indicated that he was asking the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) to make proposals to accelerate the production of the Aster missile, manufactured by the European group MBDA.
Although it “does not identify a need for requisition”, the DGA will also “issue an initial injunction to MBDA so that it builds up sufficient stocks of components”. “To be clear, I demand the creation of stocks to produce ammunition,” said Sébastien Lecornu.
(Report by Benjamin Mallet)
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