France Licenses SCALP, AASM and Aster-30 Production to Ukraine and Confirms Sixteen Rafale for 2028 to 2029 Delivery
Paris, 13 July 2026
Key points
- Macron and Zelenskyy signed a bilateral roadmap in Paris licensing French weapons production to Ukraine — the first time Paris has licensed capabilities to Kyiv rather than transferred stock
- The licensed systems are the SCALP long-range cruise missile, the AASM guided bomb, and the Aster-30 interceptor Ukraine already fires from SAMP/T
- Ukraine has ordered next-generation SAMP/T systems, with older-version deliveries and a missile batch due in the coming weeks, and confirmed sixteen Rafale fighters for 2028–2029
- The sixteen jets are the first tranche of a November 2025 letter of intent for up to 100 Rafale F4 by 2035; allies also agreed joint exercises to ready a post-ceasefire Multinational Force
On 13 July 2026 in Paris, Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a bilateral defence roadmap that for the first time licenses French weapons production to Ukraine — the SCALP cruise missile, the AASM guided bomb and the Aster-30 interceptor — and confirmed an order for sixteen Rafale fighters.
Reuters described the roadmap as the first time Paris has licensed capabilities to Ukraine rather than drawn down its own inventory. The three named systems span the strike and defensive ends of the French catalogue: the SCALP deep-strike cruise missile, the AASM Hammer precision-guided bomb, and the Aster-30, the interceptor Ukraine already operates on its SAMP/T batteries. Radars are also part of the package. Licensing shifts the model from gifting finite stocks to standing up production Ukraine can run itself.
On procurement, Macron confirmed Ukraine has ordered the next-generation SAMP/T, following deliveries of the current version and a batch of missiles "in the coming weeks." He also confirmed sixteen Rafale for 2028–2029 — "the first aircraft should be flying in Ukrainian skies in 2028–2029" — the opening tranche of the November 2025 letter of intent for up to 100 Rafale F4 by 2035. Allies agreed to launch joint exercises in states bordering Ukraine to prepare a Multinational Force for post-ceasefire deployment across land, air and sea. No contract values were disclosed.
The proprietary read. The roadmap is best read against what Macron told the armed forces the evening before. He called each nation "separately accumulating capabilities" an "absurdity," "deeply regretted" the collapse of the Franco-German FCAS, held up the KNDS tank venture as the cross-border model, and conceded that on "drones, air defence systems, missiles and ammunition, we are not producing quickly enough and we are not producing at sufficient scale." Licensing SCALP and Aster into Ukraine answers that critique from the demand side: rather than wait for French lines to scale, Paris exports the blueprint to the war that will run them hot. As Großwald Signal No. 102 noted, the coalition summit it accompanied signed architecture; this is the one bilateral piece with named systems and dated aircraft attached.
Related · The Paris coalition summit
Ten nations found the Integrated Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition in Paris (2026)
Zelenskyy calls an anti-ballistic coalition meeting around Freya (9 July 2026)
