A total of 15 contracts were awarded at the defense industries forum held in kyiv last week.
Kiev placed orders with several French manufacturers for armaments, during the defense industries forum organized in kyiv last week, we learned on Monday October 2. Nexter, the French branch of the Franco-German group KNDS, will notably supply six additional Caesar cannons, according to the Ministry of the Armed Forces. Mounted on a truck, the Caesar can fire 155 mm shells at a distance of 40 km. These cannons are in addition to the 30 Caesars already supplied by France to kyiv and the 19 examples of an eight-wheeled armored version by Denmark, according to Nexter.
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Nexter also signed a contract with a Ukrainian company to maintain Caesar and AMX-10 armored vehicles and produce certain Caesar parts locally, and another to install weapons on Ukrainian military vehicles.
Mine clearance robots and amphibious devices
Arquus, for its part, signed a contract to maintain and produce on site certain parts for armored front vehicles (VAB), of which France sold more than 100 examples to Kiev. CEFA, an Alsatian SME, will for its part provide eight SDZ heavy mine clearance robots as well as eight amphibious vehicles allowing water crossings.
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The company Delair, which concluded a first contract this summer to supply 150 observation drones, has placed an order with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense to deliver an unspecified number of additional drones. Thales and Turgis & Gaillard have also each signed an agreement with Ukrainian companies to co-develop drones, while the company Vistory will install a 3D printing center in Ukraine to produce spare parts.
In total, 15 contracts were signed, in addition to a cooperation agreement between the French Directorate General of Armaments and its Ukrainian counterpart on the sidelines of a visit by the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu.