Monitoring Desk
PARIS: France and Australia will jointly provide 155 mm shells to Ukraine needed for artillery provided by the West since the Russian invasion, defence ministers Richard Marles and Sebastien Lecornu said Monday.
“France and Australia will jointly manufacture several thousand 155 mm shells” by French arms supplier Nexter, France’s defence minister Lecornu said, while Marles said the plan would be announced with a “multi-million-dollar” price tag.
The ammunition supplies appropriate to “the ongoing level of support both Australia and France are providing Ukraine to ensure Ukraine can stay in the Ukraine conflict and see it concluded on its own terms,” the Australian defence minister added.
Lecornu said the aid would be crucial and “an effort that will be kept up over time,” with the first deliveries scheduled for the first quarter of 2023.
Marles said, “Australia had some unique capabilities and some synergies that can be achieved by France and Australia working together” to manufacture the artillery shells.
While Nexter will carry out the manufacturing, Australia will supply gunpowder, Lecornu said without elaborating further.
France and Australia’s defence ministers meeting
The defence ministers were meeting alongside both countries’ foreign ministers, Catherine Colonna and Penny Wong, as France and Australia look to relaunch cooperation.
Ties took a severe blow in 2021 when Canberra dropped a French submarine contract in favour of American subs and joined the AUKUS Pacific alliance with London and Washington.
Marles hailed “personal warmth between the four of us,” with all the ministers stressing the need to “rebuild” or “relaunch” the relationship in different ways.
Several types of artillery sent to Ukraine from its Western allies fire 155 mm shells, including French-made CAESAR truck-mounted guns, the British-built M777 howitzer, or the German Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled gun.
