France To Have Less Than 400 Scalp Missiles In Stock After Supplying Ukraine - Reports

PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th July, 2023) Less than 400 Scalp long-range missiles will remain in service with the French military after the previously announced shipment of 50 units is sent to Kiev, French monthly Defense et Securite Internationale (Defense and International Security, DSI) magazine reported on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, media reported that France would supply Ukraine with a total of 50 long-range Scalp missiles, having received assurances from Kiev that they would be used only within Ukraine's internationally recognized borders.

DSI noted that by 2030, French Scalp and UK Storm Shadow missiles will be replaced with cruise missiles, jointly developed with the United Kingdom within the framework of the Perseus project.

Russian military expert Alexei Leonkov told Sputnik that the French Scalp missile had become a rival of the US's JASSM-ER cruise missile, which is why he believed that the United States was trying to "disarm" its European allies through arms supplies to Ukraine.

He said that after European arsenals become empty, the US will offer Europe its own products, which may lead to the unification of armaments within NATO, transforming the alliance into a single combat control system.

Anglo-French Storm Shadow cruise missiles were sent to Ukraine in May, and the Ukrainian army is actively using them to strike Russian rear areas and civilian facilities, such as a medical warehouse in Yakymivka in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Western countries have been supplying Ukraine with military aid since the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. The support evolved from light artillery munitions and training in 2022 to heavier weapons, including tanks, later that year and in 2023. In recent months, Ukraine has been pushing to be supplied with fighter jets. The Kremlin has repeatedly warned against further arms deliveries to Kiev.