Lecornu: France will transfer decommissioned weapons to Ukraine

The country does and will continue to transfer decommissioned weapons and equipment from the French Armed Forces to Ukraine.

French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu announced this.

This statement was made while answering a journalist’s question about how he responds to criticism that the transfer of weapons from the French Armed Forces to Ukraine weakens France’s security.

Lecornu noted that the transfer of weapons did not affect national security, as the weapons being transferred were decommissioned.

In addition, the weapons that Ukraine is receiving today fall into the category of decommissioned weapons, as the same AMX-10RC armored fighting vehicles are being replaced by more modern EBRC Jaguar armored fighting vehicles.

“Instead of throwing these weapons and equipment in the trash or giving them to other countries, we are giving them to the Ukrainian army. But I repeat: our defense capability does not deteriorate,” the Minister of the Armed Forces emphasized.

He also noted that the weapons being transferred from the French Armed Forces would be replenished in the near future, as the country was making large investments to expand weapons production.

France will invest more than €413 billion in 2024-2030 to expand arms production and generally strengthen the army. As this trend continues, the country may not worry about its own security.

He noted that it was true that some artillery units had not received the necessary training, as a certain number of Caesar self-propelled howitzers had been transferred to Ukraine.

But he also reminded that the country was currently expanding and increasing the production of these artillery systems and had placed orders for the purchase of more than a hundred Caesar self-propelled howitzers.

France is currently implementing a large-scale modernization program for its land component, known as the Scorpion program, as a result of which the country will retire a large number of VAB armored personnel carriers.

Militarnyi previously reported that France would order an additional 130 wheeled armored vehicles to replace the armored vehicles transferred to Ukraine.