Ukraine says France, MBDA in talks to let Kyiv build SCALP missiles

Ukraine and France are making progress in talks that could allow Kyiv to manufacture SCALP cruise missiles domestically, Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said on June 29, 2026, during a joint briefing with Danish Defense Minister Jeppe Bruus, according to Ukrinform. 

Fedorov said the licensing question was raised during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to France, where Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed sharing a license to produce the SCALP with Ukraine. Talks are now continuing with both the French government and the manufacturer, the European missile maker MBDA, as the two sides work through the details. 

Fedorov said there was “indeed progress, but it is still too early to say,” pointing to a complex process that touches on intellectual property, the launch of production, and related bureaucracy. He added that the weapon raises technical questions tied to its components and assembly. 

The SCALP-EG is the French designation of the Storm Shadow, a Franco-British air-launched cruise missile produced by MBDA with a range of around 250 kilometers (155 miles) in its export configuration.  

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signs a SCALP missile (Credit: Ukrainian Presidential Press Office)

France and the United Kingdom first supplied it to Ukraine in the summer of 2023, after Macron announced the transfer at the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11, 2023. Ukraine has integrated the missile onto its Soviet-era Su-24M bombers and used it against targets including the Chonhar bridge linking Crimea to occupied Kherson and the port of Sevastopol.  

France restarted SCALP production in 2025 for the first time in 15 years, with final integration tied to MBDA’s site at Selles-Saint-Denis. 

Ukraine shifts from donations to domestic production 

Fedorov said separate consultations with US partners were continuing at the level of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) following the G7 summit, held in Évian, France, from June 15 to 17, 2026. The summit’s joint statement committed leaders to expand deliveries of air defense and long-range capabilities and to weigh extending licenses to increase Ukraine’s military production.  

On June 16, 2026, Zelensky said he had asked US President Donald Trump for licenses to produce US-made anti-ballistic systems and interceptors, including for the Patriot, amid strained US interceptor production. According to Zelensky, Trump reacted positively without confirming a decision. 

The minister framed licensed production as one part of a broader effort to expand Ukraine’s own industry. He said it remained essential to support Ukrainian manufacturers through the so-called “Danish model,” under which partner states fund weapons production inside Ukraine, or through similar arrangements, arguing that Kyiv increasingly intends to rely on its own capacity rather than remain dependent on foreign deliveries. The post Ukraine says France, MBDA in talks to let Kyiv build SCALP missiles appeared first on AeroTime.

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