French President Emmanuel Macron said he would travel to Ukraine in February to conclude a new bilateral security agreement under which France would deliver a package of sophisticated weaponry, including SCALP EG long-range air-launched cruise missiles.
Macron said on Tuesday, January 16, during a press conference that some 40 SCALP EG long-range missiles and several hundred bombs would be delivered in the coming weeks.
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, announced that France will deliver 40 Scalp EG cruise missiles to Ukraine.
We are grateful to our French partners for their unwavering support and significant reinforcement of the Ukrainian Air Force.
Merci Beaucoup!
???????????????????? pic.twitter.com/PYDfVhhA4q— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) January 17, 2024
“We are going to deliver a lot more equipment and help Ukraine with what it needs to defend its skies,” Macron assured. “I will go to Ukraine myself in February and finalize these texts.”
France has already delivered some 50 SCALP EG missiles, which along with UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles, were used quite successfully. Particularly against Russian installations and hardware in Crimea, where they managed to destroy several ships of the Black Sea Fleet, while they were in dock undergoing repairs.
The future transition to western combat aviation
According to Reuters, the G7 countries presented an international framework for Ukraine’s long-term security in June, aimed at bolstering its finances and defenses against Russia and deterring Moscow from future aggression. The agreement would define the framework for long-term humanitarian aid, reconstruction support and military assistance.
On the latter issue, Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, expressed in an interview the urgent need for more aircraft to support the offensive actions of ground troops. He specifically mentioned the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, as well as attack helicopters such as the AH-64 Apache and AH-1 Super Cobra, along with the UH-60 Black Hawk.
The head of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mikola Oleshchik, subscribed to that “wish list”, and noted that while the intention is that Western fighter jets will eventually replace those currently operating, of Soviet heritage, the change will not happen overnight. He noted that future F-16 fighters will operate side-by-side with the current MiG-29s, as well as Su-25s and A-10 “Warthogs” and spoke of the possible addition of French Mirage-2000Ds to complement the Sukhoi Su-24Ms. Ukrainian officials have been prospecting Mirage-2000D capabilities at least since September.
The Su-24Ms are the main launch vector for Storm Shadow/SCALP EG missiles and the potential addition of the Mirage-2000D would increase the number of Ukrainian Air Force cruise missile launch platforms. But Macron did not mention whether these French attack aircraft will be included in the military assistance deal he will close in Kiev in February.
