“Several thousand 155 mm shells will be jointly produced”.
On Monday, France and Australia signed an agreement for the production and delivery of shells to the Ukrainian army.
The French Ministers of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu and Australian Richard Marles welcomed this agreement on Monday: "Several thousand 155 mm shells will be produced jointly", declared the French minister, while the Australian minister underlined that this agreement " of several million Australian dollars” opens a “new cooperation between the Australian and French defense industries”.
"This is part of the support efforts that Australia and France are providing to Ukraine to ensure that it is able to hold on to this conflict and end it on its own terms," the official added. Australian minister.
A difficult relationship since the Aukus affair in 2021
"The idea is to provide significant assistance, and an effort that is continuous over time," said Sébastien Lecornu, aiming for first deliveries during the first quarter of 2023, but refusing to go into further details. contract.
The French group Nexter will be maneuvering on the French side, while Australia will be "able to bring powders", explained the French minister.
The defense ministers met with their foreign affairs counterparts, the French Catherine Colonna and the Australian Penny Wong, in Paris as part of a recent revival of Franco-Australian cooperation.
This had been seriously affected by the Aukus affair in 2021, when Canberra canceled a major French submarine contract to choose to buy American submersibles.
The 155 mm shells are those fired by several Western artillery pieces supplied to Ukraine in its war against Russia, such as the French Caesars, the American M777s, or the German Panzerhaubitze 2000s.
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Sebastien Lecornu