France will manufacture drones in Ukraine: for this, the automobile company will unite with the defense companies

French companies will manufacture drones in Ukraine: for this purpose, the major automaker will join forces with defense enterprises. This was announced by French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu on the air of the LCI TV channel, Le Figaro newspaper reports.

"We are going to start an absolutely unprecedented partnership, in which a large French car company – I won't say its name, because it has to announce it – will join forces with French small and medium-sized defense businesses to equip production lines in Ukraine for the production of drones," the official said.

According to Lecornu, the drones will be intended for Ukrainians, but at the same time the French also intend to provide them to their military to conduct constant tactical and operational training in accordance with the realities of the Russian Federation's war against Ukraine. The official did not specify what type of UAVs these will be.

At the same time, Kyiv will provide Paris with feedback on how Ukrainian forces use drones in combat, the minister added.

The official noted that there is no need to "ask French citizens" to go and work on the production line that will be created in Ukraine.

Lecornu noted that Ukrainians are better than the French in developing drones and, above all, doctrine for them.

The official also said that France, which has several thousand UAVs at its disposal, is trying to catch up with Ukraine in this area, but its system "is still too rigid, too slow between the moment the French Armed Forces declare the need and the moment the drones are delivered."

• The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense stated that in 2025 it plans to purchase 4.5 million FPV drones for the military.
• In general, the department estimates the production capacity of the Ukrainian defense industry at 10 million UAVs of different types per year.