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NATO countries continue military supplies to the war-torn Ukraine, despite the recent defeat of the Ukrainian counter offensive, which failed despite the multi billion aid from the West. French media reported that France is set to supply Ukraine with another large batch of SCALP-EG air-launched cruise missiles. It is also possible that the precious cargo was already delivered.
According to Le Figaro, France had previously sent 50 missiles, and now plans to send 85 SCALP-EGs more, that is, in total 135 missiles should be officially sent.
The first batch of 50 French SCALP-EG cruise missiles were sent to Kiev in 2023, when Macron decided to support Zelenskyi’s counter offensive and the advanced missiles were supposed to become another game changer on the battlefields. It was not reported exactly when the missiles were transferred, but last summer the first ones were already destroyed during Ukrainian attempts to hit targets in the Russian rear regions, in particular, in Crimea.
Paris and Kiev reportedly agreed to supply 85 missiles more, but their officials do not comment on the reports. There is no evidence of whether the missiles have been delivered or are just being prepared for shipment.
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The French Scalp-EG is similar to the British Storm Shadow cruise missile. In fact, these are almost the same missiles, produced for different customers with slight differences.
The both missiles are capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 560 km and reach a speed of 1000 km/h. However, only advanced missiles equipped with an additional fuel tank may reach the above-mentioned range. The other are only capable of hitting targets at a distance of 250 km. The latter include the export version of the missiles.
The Ukrainian Air Force use Su-24 bombers to launch SCALP-EG. They are also capable of carrying the British Storm Shadow, since the missile drop systems are similar.
According to various estimations, the French military has about 1,200 SCALP missiles. Probably, more of them were already sent to Ukraine than it was officially acknowledged by the French military leadership. Warehouses with these precious missiles are destroyed by Russian precision strikes on a regular basis. Some of them were intercepted during the failed attempts of the Ukrainian military to hit targets in the Russian rear areas, including over the Crimean peninsula. Since the Ukrainian military has more British Storm Shadow missiles in its disposal, they are also used more often during the attacks; and its difficult to distinguish them during the interception to officially confirm the numbers.
The reports about the French decision to supply SCALP-EG came immediately after Berlin refused to sent German Taurus missiles to Ukraine. Thus, the reports may be nothing but an attempt to show the European unity and readiness of European partners to support the Kiev regime. On the other hand, the delivery of several dozen more missiles is unlikely to entail any strategically important consequences. The threat to the Russian facilities in the rear areas remain, but Russian air defense forces are successfully intercepting both SCALP-EG and British Storm Shadow missiles.
