French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday that France is negotiating with Arabian Peninsula countries to buy back French-supplied weapons for resupply to Ukraine.
Macron said France would no longer supply artillery systems and ammunition to Qatar and Saudi Arabia to focus on supporting Ukraine.
According to Macron, Germany and Italy are also negotiating to buy back weaponry from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.
Macron said that building up France’s reserves, and support for Ukraine, would be his ongoing priorities.
Ukraine is urgently in need of artillery ammunition.
Saudi Arabia’s armoury includes 156 of French-built Caesar self-propelled howitzers, as well as about 100 of 105mm LG1 howitzers.
the Saudi Army and the National Guard, both integral components of the Saudi Armed Forces, currently operate the French-manufactured CAESAR, a 155mm 6×6 self-propelled howitzer.
Qatar has a smaller artillery armoury, consisting of 24 French 155 mm AMX F3 self-propelled guns and more lethal German PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers.
The United Arab Emirates has almost no French artillery systems, but has a stockpile of export-standard French SCALP (Storm Shadow) cruise missiles also known as Black Shaheen in UAE.
Macron has been using increasing assertive rhetoric regarding the invasion of Ukraine. Macron started the escalated invasion by trying to engage with Putin, but has now committed to defeating Russia militarily in Ukraine by any means necessary.
France has become the main European arms seller to the Middle East, overtaking Russia, according to new figures.
Sales of Rafale fighter aircraft to Qatar and Egypt have helped France become the world’s second-biggest military exporter, after the US.
Russia’s arms exports halved, as it gears its economy towards supplying its own military during the war in Ukraine.
France moved into the gap, increasing its overall arms exports by 47 per cent. More than a third of its sales went to the Middle East.
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