Ukraine and France sign Letter of Intent on joint weapons production

In Kyiv, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, and France’s Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs, Catherine Vautrin, signed a Letter of Intent on joint weapons production in Ukraine and France.

The agreement paves the way for major joint defence industry projects.

The French side also informed the Ukrainian delegation about preparations to deliver additional Mirage aircraft. 

During the talks, Ukraine and France aligned on key defence cooperation priorities and discussed funding sources for joint projects, including European Union credit financing and the SAFE programme.

Participating in the meeting was a delegation of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, headed by First Deputy Minister of Defence Oleksii Vyskub and Deputy Minister of Defence for European Integration Sergiy Boyev. The French delegation was headed by Catherine Vautrin, Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs of France.

The parties discussed options to accelerate aircraft deliveries and further strengthen Ukraine’s aviation capabilities. In parallel, efforts are underway to ensure a record volume of deliveries of AASM Hammer guided aerial bombs.

The parties placed particular emphasis on strengthening air defence. Ukraine is interested in further supplies of SAMP/T, Mistral, and Crotale systems, as well as munitions for these systems. 

Joint work on upgrading SAMP/T systems was also proposed to increase their effectiveness in countering ballistic threats. Cooperation on the supply of Aster missiles and on accelerating their production is ongoing.

The parties also discussed the supply of long-range strike systems, including SCALP missiles.

Special focus was placed on advancing joint projects between the governments and defence companies of Ukraine and France, including testing joint security solutions and developing innovative electronic warfare (EW) systems.