By Serge Duchêne
Published on
In the campaign of attrition and position that the war in Ukraine has become, FPV drones have quickly become ubiquitous and vitally essential.
Russia, initially relying mainly on Iranian Shaheds, soon put all the power of its war economy into manufacturing them itself.
Ukraine, although not able to rely on the same production capacity, is not to be outdone and can rely on its inventiveness, both in the construction and development of its own models and the effectiveness of their use – as demonstrated by the recent ‘Spider’s Web’ operation- but also in the ‘re-use’ of swarms launched by its adversaries.
Now Kyiv can count on some major support in this war at a distance: French automotive and defence companies are going to produce drones on Ukrainian soil.
Announcing the initiative on LCI, French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu spoke of a “win-win” partnership with Ukraine.
“We’re going to embark on a completely unprecedented partnership where a major company producing French cars – I’m not giving the name because it’s up to it to announce it – is going to join forces with a French defence SME to arm production lines in Ukraine to be able to produce drones”, the minister announced.
These drones, the type of which he did not specify, will be intended for the Ukrainians, ” but we are also going to make them available to our own French armies so that we can have permanent tactical and operational training that reflects the reality ” of the conflict.
As far as expertise and manpower are concerned, production will rest on the Ukrainians’ shoulders: they “are better than we are at devising drones and, above all, developing the doctrine that goes with them”, Lecornu admitted. ” There’s also no need to ask French citizens” to go and work on the production line in Ukraine.
Europeans are already investing in production in Ukraine
The announcement follows the discussions that took place on 5 June in Brussels between the Ukrainian and French defence ministers on the joint production of weapons for Ukrainian defence needs.
“We are ready to offer this opportunity to the best manufacturers. Ukraine has combat experience and France has a solid industrial base. This is a strategic and mutually beneficial partnership”, Ukrainian Miniser of Defence Rustem Umarierov emphasised, thanking Lecornu for his support.
At the 28th Ramstein meeting at NATO headquarters, Ukraine and its partners also decided to set up an armaments production mechanism.
Several European partners have recently invested in drone production in Ukraine
Finland has set up a drone manufacturing plant in cooperation with Ukrainian partners to produce drones for Ukraine and the EU, with mass production scheduled to begin in 2025.
The Netherlands has announced a €700m ($798m) investment to advance drone technology and support Ukraine’s defence industry.
The UK is also investing hundreds of millions of dollars to increase drone production for Ukraine in 2025. Norway has redirected its funds to support Ukrainian drone production.
France has a lot of catching up to do
According to Jean-Paul Perruche, Lieutenant General and former Director General of the European Union Military Staff, quoted by LCI, France was until then “insufficiently prepared” for this upheaval in warfare practices: “I worked in the research department of the army staff, and we were already talking about drones at the end of the 1980s. But the context at the time was far from high-intensity. I think we fell behind on drones at a time when countries like the United States and others like China were forging ahead.
While the French army has a few thousand drones (3,000 for the army), Ukraine intends to use more than 4.5 million drones by 2025, which are responsible for 70% of the destruction of enemy equipment on the front line.
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