Ukraine holds talks with France on SCALP missile production licences – Defence Minister

Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has said Ukraine is holding talks with France regarding the possibility of obtaining licences to produce French SCALP cruise missiles.

Source: Fedorov at a joint briefing with Danish Defence Minister Jeppe Bruus, as reported by Ukrinform

Quote: "I can say that during our president's visit to France there was a very positive discussion with Macron about the possibility of sharing SCALP missile licences with our country. Talks are ongoing with both the government and the company. All the details are being confirmed. There has been real progress. It is a complex process, particularly in terms of intellectual property and setting up production. There is a certain amount of bureaucracy involved."

Details: Fedorov also said that following the G7 summit, a separate dialogue is ongoing at the level of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council with US partners regarding licences for the development and production of air defence systems. He described the very fact that such talks have begun as unprecedented.

Quote: "As for long-range weapons in general, we can see that we have scaled up the production of Ukrainian missiles and 'deep-strike' [long-range] systems. At the moment, it is very important to support Ukrainian manufacturers through the Danish model or other formats, because we understand how to scale up what is already working effectively. At present, we are relying as much as possible on our own capabilities. That is why we are working to ensure every additional dollar is invested into Ukrainian production and to scale it up."

Background:

• Fedorov and Bruus discussed the creation of a joint anti-ballistic missile system involving Ukraine and its European partners.
• Ukrainian and German companies will cooperate on the production of anti-ballistic missile systems under an agreement signed on 18 June in Brussels.
• The G7 leaders agreed on 17 June to increase supplies of air defence systems and interceptor missiles to Ukraine and indicated their readiness to consider granting licences for the production of such missiles directly in Ukraine.

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