On Tuesday evening (16/1), French President Emmanuel Macron said he would travel to Ukraine “in February” and that Paris would supply Kyiv with about 40 SCALP long-range cruise missiles, as well as hundreds of guided bombs.
“I will personally go to Ukraine in Februaryand France will supply Kyiv in the coming weeks “about 40 SCALP missiles and several hundred bombs”he said at a press conference.
It should be noted that the Greek Air Force had 9 SCALP-EG cruise missiles in service (at least in theory, since their operational life had expired and they were sent for modernization under the service life extension program in 2019), and it is unknown whether they returned they are going to Greece and how many, the publication reports ProNews.
Just last May, MBDA signed a contract with Greece for the SCALP EG missile modernization program, and it can be assumed that as of 2019 and even today, the Air Force does not have a single combat-ready SCALP EG missile.
February 8, 2023 ΚΥΣΕΑ approved the draft framework agreement and the first execution contract for the SCALP EG plant maintenance and support program for the use of the Mirage 2000-5Mk2. The program was approved by parliament on October 14, 2021. The MBDA press release states the following:: “The missiles covered by this medium-term maintenance were ordered as part of the initial weapons package for the Mirage 2000-5. Additional SCALP missiles were ordered by Greece as part of the weapons packages for 18 Rafales ordered in 2021 and a further six Rafales ordered in 2022.”
I would like to believe that the 40 missiles that France is transferring to Ukraine are not from Greek stockpiles sent to MBDA for modernization, but it would be nice if both MBDA and PA issued a statement denying this possibility.
The production and delivery of SCALP-EG cruise missiles is a labor-intensive and expensive process, and of course many in the West would like to see the Greek missiles delivered to the Ukrainian Air Force after modernization work that takes about six months, rather than waiting the two years required for their production. It goes without saying that such proposals are always accompanied by a euphemism: “Give these missiles to Ukraine now, and then we will give you even more new ones!”
Previously, Greece suffered a fiasco with the BMP-1, which was supposed to replace the Marder-1A3, and which were never delivered, except for a few rotting in Thrace.
Nous ne pouvons laisser la Russie gagner.
La France s’engage à de nouvelles livraisons d’armes en Ukraine : une quarantaine de missiles SCALP et des centaines de bombes. Il en va de la protection de la liberté, de nos valeurs, et de la sécurité de notre voisinage.
🇪🇺🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/wowMwVBM8K— Benjamin Haddad (@benjaminhaddad) January 16, 2024
We cannot allow Russia to win, and France intends to continue supplying weapons to Ukraine: about forty SCALP missiles and hundreds of bombs. The defense of freedom, our values, and the safety of our neighbors are at stake.
France and Germany are frantically trying to replace the United States, which cannot solve the budget problem, which is why aid to Ukraine is being postponed indefinitely. Emmanuel Macron has already statedWhat France switched to a war economyto increase weapons production and increase supplies to Ukraine, and Germany, after Scholz’s conversation with Bidenalso decided to allocate 7 billion euros to Ukraine, reported on website of the German government (if, of course, Scholz sits in his chair, which is very actively swaying under him).
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