Macron announces SCALP missile production license and Ukrainian aviation modernization program.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced new measures to strengthen Ukraine’s air defence after the Coalition of the Willing meeting in Paris.

He said Paris had granted Kyiv a licence to produce several types of weapons, including the SCALP EG cruise missile. The allies also agreed to launch a long-term programme to modernise Ukraine’s combat aviation, with the first flights potentially taking place as early as 2028–2029.

Speaking alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Macron said Ukraine’s allies had agreed to begin military exercises in countries neighbouring Ukraine as part of a plan for multinational forces that would be deployed immediately after a possible ceasefire agreement with Russia is reached.

The French president also announced the transfer of radars and additional missiles to Ukraine, as well as Paris’s intention to expand cooperation with Kyiv in the production of air defence systems.

At the Paris meeting, nine European countries, together with Ukraine, adopted a declaration on participation in an anti-ballistic defence coalition aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s air defence after Zelenskyy said his country lacked the means to counter Russian ballistic missiles.

Bulgaria did not join the group, although Prime Minister Rumen Radev was invited to Paris by Macron and is already there.