OUR France and Australia will work together to provide Ukraine 155-mm projectiles to support Kyiv in the war with Russia, the defense ministers of the two countries said today, Sebastian Lecorny and Richard Marls.

“Several thousand 155mm rounds will be made jointly,” Lecorny said, while Marles spoke of a “multi-million dollar project” and “new cooperation between defense industries” in France and Australia.

The agreement “is part of an effort to support” Ukraine so that Canberra and Paris can ensure that it “surmounts the conflict and ends the war on its own terms,” ​​Marles added.

Deliveries will begin in the first quarter of 2023, Lecorny said, but declined to elaborate.

The defense ministers met in Paris along with their foreign counterparts, Frenchman Catherine Colonna and Australian Penny Wong, as part of the recent renewed cooperation between the two countries. France’s relationship with Australia was cut short in 2021 when Canberra canceled a major French submarine contract in favor of acquiring American nuclear submarines. Marles confirmed today that Australia has no plans to acquire conventional submarines until nuclear submarines are delivered, shattering French hopes that the two countries could reach an interim deal.

155-mm shells are used in several artillery systems supplied to Ukraine by Western countries, such as the French Caesar, the American M777 and the German Panzerhaubitze 2000.

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP, Reuters.}