French Firms Triple Artillery Ammo, Missile Production

French defense firms have increased production of self-propelled guns, artillery shells, fighter jets, and anti-air missiles, as announced by Sébastien Lecornu, the country's armed forces minister, in a report by Rudy Ruitenberg for Defense News.

French Army Giat 155mm GCT (155mm AUF1) Self-propelled Guns, 40th Regiment d' Artillerie I Photo: U.S. Department of Defense Wikimedia Commons

This development comes as France aims to enhance weapon deliveries to Ukraine, which is defending itself against a Russian invasion.

It also follows French President Emmanuel Macron's call for the country to adopt a "war economy" over a year ago. France intends to raise its monthly deliveries of 155mm shells from 1,000 in January 2023 to 3,000 in January 2024, according to Lecornu.

Nexter has increased production of the Caesar from two per month at the beginning of 2022 to six per month, and this rate will further rise to eight systems per month starting next year.

Nexter is also providing operational support for all Caesar systems in service in Ukraine, utilizing virtual reality to guide Ukrainian engineers through maintenance operations, as shared by Nexter CEO Nicolas Chamussy at an industry forum outside Paris earlier this month.

A total of 49 Caesar systems were sent to Ukraine, including 19 from Denmark. In addition, MBDA has doubled its production of the Mistral short-range surface-to-air missile to 40 per month.

Dassault Aviation has tripled the production of Rafale fighter aircraft to three per month, and Thales has doubled its radar production capacity, as outlined by Lecornu.

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