France aims to ramp up artillery shell production to 5000 per month, MoD says
French Minister of Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu (Photo: Getty Images)
France should increase artillery ammunition production and reach a level of 4-5 thousand units per month, according to French Minister of Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu.
"I really hope that we will be able to produce between 4000 and 5000 155mm shells per month," the minister said during hearings in the National Assembly.
Lecornu reminded that at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, France produced a thousand ammunition per month, and then increased it to 2000 in 2023.
He added that in February, France reached a production level of 3,000 shells per month, although the figure is still low. Lecornu also said that there are problems with gunpowder and production lines.
According to the minister, the defense company Nexter is doing everything possible to invest in production and open an additional line.
Paris conference on military assistance to Ukraine
On February 26, a working meeting of about 20 European leaders took place at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Conference participants discussed ways to counter Russia and possible ways to assist Ukraine in confronting the aggressor, against the backdrop of the escalating situation on the front lines in recent weeks.
Following the conference, French President Emmanuel Macron criticized the EU's pledge to deliver one million shells to Ukraine, which they could not fulfill in time - by March 1, 2024, EU countries will only have accumulated 600 thousand ammunition.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed regret that the EU had supplied only 30% of the promised shells to Kyiv by March 2024.
European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell noted that Ukraine would receive over 1 million artillery shells from EU countries by the end of this year.
