PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th March, 2023) The French authorities are planning to double the production of military equipment, including radars, missiles, and howitzers, by the end of 2023, and accelerate the weapons delivery time, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Friday.
"The first results are already visible. A few examples: Thales will double the production of Ground Master radars and will start manufacturing 24 units a year instead of 12 starting September. Caesar howitzers production (by) Nexter will also double, and eight units will be produced per month instead of four. Meanwhile, the time span between the moment of order to delivery will be reduced from 30 to 17 months. Another example is that the production of the Mistral missiles will double to 40 units per month by the end of 2023, and the manufacturing period will be reduced from 30 to 15 months," Lecornu told French newspaper Les Echos.
The defense minister also said that France, Italy and the United Kingdom had requested that the production of Aster missiles be reduced from 40 to 18 months.
He added that France has already approved the localization of eight strategic military productions, and that seven localization projects were being studied by the French government.
In January, France and Italy reportedly signed a contract for the production of additional 700 Aster medium-range anti-aircraft missiles, which became one of the largest orders for this ammunition. Paris and Rome also agreed to jointly provide advanced Samp/T air defense systems with Aster-30 anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine at a total cost of 800 million Euros ($867.8 million).
