Ukraine in talks with France on production licenses for SCALP missiles, defense minister says

Ukraine is making "progress" in negotiations with France on licensing to produce long-range weapons, including SCALP missiles, Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said at a press conference alongside his Danish counterpart Jeppe Bruus on June 29.

France's SCALP cruise missiles are the equivalent of the British Storm Shadows, with a range of up to 250 kilometers.

President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the matter of SCALP licenses during Zelensky's visit to France, Fedorov said, according to Ukrinform.

"I can say that during the visit of our president to France, there was a very good conversation with Macron about the possibility of sharing licenses for SCALP missiles to our country, and now the conversation continues with both the government and the company in this regard, all the details are being clarified," Fedorov said.

"There is indeed progress, but it is still too early to say, because it is a difficult process regarding intellectual property, in general, the opening of production and so on, there is a certain bureaucracy in this regard."

Zelensky has previously lobbied for licenses to produce Western weapons in Ukraine, including U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems. While Kyiv has not yet received permission to produce its own Patriots, Zelensky said on June 21 that U.S. President Donald Trump plans to ask American defense firms to grant such licenses to Ukraine.

Leaders at the recent Group of Seven (G7) summit in Geneva also said they discussed the possibility of Ukraine producing Western weapons and were "ready to consider" issuing these licenses.

Fedorov hailed these moves as important first steps in expanding Ukraine's production of critical long-range weapons, and said the discussions on SCALP missiles were already at a more advanced stage.

"We can't announce any details yet, but it's unprecedented that (the possibility of production licenses) was announced after the G7 and that such conversations started at all," Fedorov said at the briefing.

"And if we are talking about SCALP missiles, then even they have already gone into a more detailed discussion. These are the first steps. We carefully continue to support these communications in order to get results."

Ukraine has previously deployed SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles provided by France and the U.K. in strikes against targets in Russia and occupied Crimea. Macron first agreed to transfer SCALP missiles directly to Ukraine in July 2023, at the NATO summit in Vilnius.