France to Grant Ukraine Licenses for Missile Production, Macron Announces

French President Emmanuel Macron announced on July 13 that France will grant Ukraine licenses to produce French missiles, speaking at a joint press conference with the leaders of Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Macron noted that US President Donald Trump had already announced a decision to allow licensed production of interceptor missiles for Patriot air defense systems. "We, for our part, have decided to authorize the licensed production of Aster missiles used in the SAMP/T systems that France develops jointly with Italy. Several other countries have also taken similar decisions on transferring licenses," Macron said.

The French president also stated that during his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, they approved a roadmap for bilateral cooperation to implement agreements reached in November last year. The roadmap covers air defense, with Ukraine set to acquire its first batch of next-generation SAMP/T batteries. Macron added that these will "complement the systems and missiles that will be delivered in the coming weeks."

Zelenskyy thanked Macron for his readiness to provide Ukraine with additional air defense systems this year. "Thank you, Emmanuel, personally for your willingness to grant these licenses. This is a major step forward and will help us enormously. Licenses for Aster and SCALP are important decisions," he said.

Earlier, on July 8, Trump announced that the US will allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot systems. Zelenskyy also said that following the political agreement with Trump on a Patriot production license, technical work to implement it should begin swiftly. Reuters reported that production of US interceptor missiles for Patriot systems intended for Ukraine is most likely to be established in a European country, with Germany among the options under consideration.