French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced the start of deliveries of unnamed missile weapons to Ukraine.

He announced this on the air of France Inter, Le figaro reports.

On January 18, on France Inter, the French Defense Minister announced that from January 2024, Paris would deliver about 50 unnamed “missiles” every month until the end of the year.

Lecornu also recalled President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to transfer about 40 SCALP aircraft cruise missiles to Ukraine. Thus, he said that this is a different type of ammunition.

Presumably, the government is planning to supply adjusted aircraft bombs of the AASM family equipped with a rocket booster. France classifies them as missiles.

AASM Hammer

The AASM is a modernization kit for existing unguided aerial bombs like the US JDAM, which are already used by Ukrainian tactical aviation.

The kit consists of a front part with a guidance system and flaps, and a rear part with an accelerator designed to increase the flight range.

France has two types of bomb kits in service, specifically Hammer-250 for Mk.82 bombs weighing 227 kg and Hammer-1000 for 908-kilogram Mk.84.

The nose of the AASM kit can be equipped with three guidance systems: INS with GPS, INS with thermal imaging seeker, or similar with a laser beam guidance system. The first type of system, according to the developer, has a hit accuracy of 10 meters, while the latter two have an accuracy of only 1 meter.

It should be noted that guided aerial bombs with thermal imaging and laser guidance systems are immune to enemy electronic warfare systems.

It is reported that in 2016, 764 AASM sets with inertial guidance system, 384 sets with thermal imaging, and 600 sets with laser guidance were manufactured by order of the French Ministry of Defense.

The range of such ammunition depends on the launch altitude and initial speed, but according to official data, it ranges between 15 and 70 kilometers. In 2022, the manufacturer also introduced a new accelerator for Hammer-1000 kits, which should provide a range of 15-200 kilometers, but it is not specified whether these kits were ordered by France.

Given that the transfer of these munitions is expected to begin in January of this year, the main carriers of these munitions in Ukraine will be Soviet-era aircraft. For example, MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter jets can carry Mk.82 bombs, which weigh 340 kilograms when armed. Only the Su-24M frontline bomber will be able to carry the heavier monochromatic Mk.84.

It is also worth noting that in 2014, during the tests, AASM ammunition proved its compatibility with F-16 fighter jets, the first of which Ukraine should receive this year.