French automaker Renault will set up a plant in Ukraine to produce drones for the Ukrainian and French armies.
Defence Minister Sebastian Lecornu has announced "a completely unprecedented partnership in which a major French car manufacturing company will join forces with a French defence SME to arm production lines in Ukraine capable of producing drones."
According to franceinfo, which did not give details of its sources, the production lines will be located "several tens or hundreds of kilometres from the front line", AFP reported.
These drones, the model of which was not specified, will be used primarily by the Ukrainian army, "but we will also make them available to our own French army so that we can have constant tactical and operational training that reflects the reality" of the conflict in Ukraine, Sebastian Lecornu said.
In 2025, Ukraine intends to use more than 4.5 million drones, which are responsible for 70% of the destruction of enemy equipment on the front line.
The French army, which deploys several thousand drones, is seeking to catch up in this area.
For Sebastien Lecornu, the Ukrainians "are better than we are at developing drones and especially at developing the doctrine that accompanies them."
They will also provide feedback on how they use these drones in this war. | BGNES