France to double production of military equipment by end of 2023: MoD

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Les Echos
24 Mar 2023 19:06

According to the Defense Minister, France, Italy and the UK had all requested that the production of Aster missiles be reduced from 40 to 18 months.

A French artillery piece Caesar is photographed at the Eurosatory arms show in Villepinte, north of Paris, Tuesday, June 14, 2022 (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

The French government plans to increase the production of military equipment by the end of this year, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu told Les Echos on Friday.

Some of the arms and military equipment the Minister made mentioned include radars, missiles, and howitzers. He also said the government will request that weapons delivery time be reduced.

"The first results are already visible. A few examples: Thales will double the production of Ground Master radars and will start manufacturing 24 units a year instead of 12 starting September. Caesar howitzers production [by] Nexter will also double, and eight units will be produced per month instead of four. Meanwhile, the time span between the moment of order to delivery will be reduced from 30 to 17 months," Lecornu told the news agency.

"Another example is that the production of the Mistral missiles will double to 40 units per month by the end of 2023, and the manufacturing period will be reduced from 30 to 15 months," he added, noting that France, Italy, and the UK had all requested that the production of Aster missiles be reduced from 40 to 18 months.

He further said that France has already greenlighted the localization of eight strategic military productions and that seven other localization projects are currently being assessed by the French government.

Italy and France signed a joint agreement in January for the production of an additional 700 Aster medium-range anti-aircraft missiles.

The order was reported to have been the largest ever for this particular ammunition.

The two countries also agreed to supply Kiev with advanced Samp/T air defense systems with Aster-30 anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine at a total cost of 800 million euros ($867.8 million).