France Launches “Artillery Coalition” For Ukraine
French defense minister Sebastien Lecornu launched a new “artillery coalition” to supply Ukrainian artillery requirements at a Thursday event in Paris, with his Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov virtually attending the event.
At the event, Lecornu announced that France would be delivering six new CAESAR truck-mounted self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine in the coming weeks. The day before, he told Le Parisien in an interview that CAESAR manufacturer Nexter expected to build and deliver 78 new CAESARs to Ukraine by the end of the year.
According to a French defense ministry statement issued following the launch event, the artillery coalition will be co-chaired by France and the United States. The artillery coalition is the fifth coalition created by the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (otherwise known as the Ramstein group) to build a specific Ukrainian capability, with other coalitions respectively focusing on ground-based air defense systems, armored vehicles, combat aircraft, and maritime security.
Lecornu announced at the launch event that the French government will be spending 50 million euros from its Ukraine support fund for the purchase of 12 CAESARs. He previously told Le Parisien that Ukraine had agreed to pay for six of the CAESARs, and called upon other allies of Ukraine to help fund the remaining 60 CAESARs for Ukraine.
The defense minister added that France expected to be able to deliver 3,000 155mm shells used by the CAESAR on a monthly basis from the end of this month. According to Lecornu, this was accomplished by moving to a “war economy” footing, with current French shell production at 2,000 shells monthly compared to 1,000 a month at the start of the Russian invasion.
In a speech delivered by video link, Umerov emphasized the importance of expanded artillery supplies, saying that Russian forces were firing between 5 to 10 times more artillery shells than Ukrainian troops in certain area along the frontline. Bolstering Ukrainian artillery capabilities, Umerov said, would give Ukrainian troops more opportunities to make steady progress on the battlefield.
The launch of the artillery coalition also comes a day after French President Emanuel Macron announced that France would be transferring an additional 40 SCALP-EG air-launched cruise missiles to the Ukrainian Air Force, in addition to pledging the delivery of “hundreds” of AASM Hammer guided aircraft bombs.