France and Australia will jointly produce artillery shells for Ukraine

France and Australia have agreed to cooperate within the multimillion-dollar project for the production of "several thousand" artillery shells for Ukraine.

This was announced during a meeting of foreign ministers and defense ministers in Paris, CNN reports.

"Several thousand 155mm shells will be produced jointly as part of an unprecedented partnership between Australia and France," said French Secretary of Defense Sébastien Lecornu. He said that the French weapons company Nexter would cooperate with Australian companies that would supply powder for shells.

"This is part of the constant level of support that France and Australia provide to Ukraine to make sure that Ukraine will be able to withstand this conflict and achieve its completion on its terms," added Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles. None of the ministers specified the number of artillery shells exceeding "several thousand," but they noted that it would be long-term cooperation.

These are the first negotiations between the two countries at a high level since two years ago, Australia abandoned the defense agreement with Paris in favor of an agreement with the United Kingdom and the United States, now known as AUKUS.

Reference

France and Italy are close to completing the approval of technical details for the supply of SAMP/ T anti-aircraft missile systems to Ukraine.