More details on the previously announced military support package come from the Minister of the Armed Forces of France Sébastien Lecornu. In his interview to Le Parisien he said France can provide up to 12 Crotale air defense systems and training for the Ukrainian military personnel, Ouest France reports.
Lecornu said the exact number of Crotale short-range anti-aircraft systems that will be sent to Ukraine is yet to be determined, but it "will be significant to enable them to defend their skies".
Read more: IRIS-T SAM is Already Defending Ukrainian Sky – Air Force Command
Sébastien Lecornu assured that the goal is to complete the transfer of Crotales "within the next two months", that is, by mid-December.
Also, the French army will welcome Ukrainian soldiers assigned to French units to receive three-fold training for several weeks. The training program includes basic combat training, "specific needs reported by the Ukrainians, such as logistics" and the training on the equipment they will receive, which presumably means the modern weapon systems provided by France.
As for the CAESAR artillery systems brought up by President Emmanuel Macron earlier this week, "discussions are continuing", said minister Lecornu, with six artillery pieces in question. Moreover, France is also considering supplying its LRM (Lance-roquettes multiple) rocket artillery systems, i.e. MLRS.
And here’s the interesting part: according to the official data, French ground forces have only two kinds of rocket-launching systems. One of them is the SDPMAC demining vehicle designed to breach minefields by shelling the area with rockets from the Israeli CARPET system.
Another one is the Lance Roquette Unitaire (LRU), or the Unitary Rocket Launcher, which is a French version of the M270 short-range artillery rocket system capable of firing GMLRS missiles with a range of up to 80 km. The M270 has been so far provided by the UK and Germany (locally – MARS II), and indeed, the LRU is more fitting to the description of an actual MLRS, than the mine-clearing system.
Read more: Iran to Supply russia With the Fateh-110 and the Zolfaghar Ballistic Missiles (Specifications Included)
