Paris will provide kyiv two unitary rocket launchers and envisages the sending of radars, said the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, Sunday November 20.
by Cédric Pietrapurunga
Regularly criticized for its lack of military support since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, on February 24, France seeks to improve its image in terms of arms supplies. Sunday, November 20, Sébastien Lecornu announced the delivery of two unitary rocket launchers (LRU) to kyiv troops and confirmed the sending of two Crotale NG anti-aircraft defense batteries in Ukraine. “We are also studying a Ukrainian demand for radars, because the detection of the [Russian] strikes upstream is crucial,” added the Minister of the Armed Forces in an interview published by Le Journal du Dimanche.
Similar to Multiple Himars Multiple Lancer, whose Ukrainians have made intensive use since this summer to destroy ammunition deposits and Russian logistics axes behind the front, LRUs are capable of hitting targets 80 kilometers away with reduced precision at 5 meters, say the French artillerymen. The army has thirteen copies, but only eight would be operational, according to the senator of the Republicans of the Territoire de Belfort, Cédric Perrin, who was moved in a tweet published in October. In this yardstick, sending to Ukraine would represent a quarter of the tricolor park in activity.
Designed in the 1990s, the Crotale NG is a short-range sol-air system, capable of detecting aircraft evolving at low altitude within a radius of 20 kilometers and destroying them up to 11 kilometers away. France has twelve copies, attached to the air bases of Istres (Bouches-du-Rhône), Avord (Cher) and Saint-Dizier (Haute-Marne). According to our information, Paris nevertheless tries to convince some of its partners to deliver VT1 missiles to Ukraine to supply French Crotale NG: these projectiles have not been manufactured by Thales for several years and the stocks of the army of the air and space would be limited.
effective radars against drone waves
Regarding radars that France plans to deliver to Ukraine, no indication has been given by the Ministry of the Armed Forces. According to military sources, it could be Ground Master 200 (GM200), a system of average range made in France by Thales. Capable of monitoring an area of 250 kilometers, the GM200 is notably very effective in detecting small and flying vehicles at low altitude. A device that Ukraine is sorely lacking to counter the waves of drones, especially Iranian, launched every day by Russia on the country’s energy infrastructure, of which “almost half (…) was focused on” , said Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmyl.
on Friday November 18
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