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Crotale

Crotale SAM is mounted on a P4R (4×4) armored wheeled chassis. The system cannot operate while in motion, but after stopping, it needs less than 5 minutes to be brought into combat-ready condition. The R440 missile is constantly stored in the transport and launch container. The total weight of the missile is 100kg. The detachable high-explosive warhead is located in the central part of the missile hull. The striking radius of the debris spread is 8m, and the speed of the flight reaches 2.3 km/s. It is stated that the target hit range is 500-10000 meters, and the altitude is up to 5000 meters.

Sébastien Lecornu, French Minister of Defense, said 20 November 2022 that the country handed over two battalions worth of the Crotale air defense system and two units of the MLRS LRU to the Ukrainian forces. He shared this in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche. He stressed that France is one of the five countries providing Ukraine with the most assistance, in particular at the expense of the European Peace Fund. Through this platform, weapons transferred from other countries are also compensated. France has invested EUR 550 million in this fund. The total amount of resources accumulated in the fund now comes up to EUR 3 billion.

When asked by journalists about the transfer of air defense systems to Ukraine, Sébastien Lecornu replied: “Yes, two battalions of Crotale missiles. But we are also studying the Ukrainian requests for radars, as the strike detection is critical,” he said. Lecornu stressed that the military assistance that Ukraine receives is provided with consideration of its requests.

The head of the French defense ministry hopes that Ukraine will be able to deploy these SAMs within two months, including the training time of the Ukrainian military. The exact number of SAMs that will be provided is not specified, but according to information of French mass media it is about 3-4 systems. Currently, France has 12 Crotale NG air defense systems of the latest modification in service.

French President Emmanuel Macron reported the transfer of the previously announced Crotale air defense systems to Ukraine. He mentioned this 21 December, 2022 in an interview with French TV channels TF1 and LCI, writes France 24. “In recent days, France has shipped to Ukraine more weapons, rocket launchers, Crotale (air defense batteries), equipment beyond what we had already done,” Macron said. On the Ukrainian side, there was no information about the transfer of Crotale air defense systems to the Armed Forces.

Previously, in an interview with French TV channels TF1 and LCI, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine is negotiating the supply of Crotale and SAMP-T air defense systems. “Currently, with the French Republic, with my counterpart Emmanuel Macron, we agreed on the Crotale systems. Thank you very much, I don’t know yet how they operate, they haven’t started working yet. We have similar examples with American partners, namely NASAMS, and with German partners, namely IRIS-T. We are aiming for systems that depend on the decision of Italy and France, specifically SAMP-T. These systems, along with other anti-aircraft systems, will also help,” Zelensky added.