Ukraine and France have agreed to open up access by Ukraine to French-made military equipment, including tactical fighter aircraft.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Paris on 17 November to meet with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and sign the agreement, which covers some of the French defence industry’s most-sophisticated equipment, including the latest variant of Dassault Aviation’s Rafale fighter jet.

“This document enables Ukraine to procure military equipment from France’s defence industrial and technological base, including 100 Rafale F4 aircraft by 2035 for Ukraine’s combat aviation,” Zelensky says.

Zelensky and Macron inked the agreement, officially named the Declaration of Intent on Cooperation in the Acquisition of Defense Equipment for Ukraine, at a French air base in Velizy-Villacoublay, flanked by a Rafale fighter and blue-and-gold Ukrainian flag.

The F4 is latest iteration of Dassault’s prolific Rafale fighter, offering all-weather air-to-air and air-to-ground capability, an active electronically scanned array radar and the Link 16 communications system used by NATO to share battlefield sensor data between aircraft, ships and ground forces.

Subsequent improvements are being incorporated into the Rafale F4.2 and 4.3 configurations, which are currently under development. Dassault is also developing a more-advanced F5 configuration that will have conformal fuel tanks, a more-powerful gallium arsenide/gallium nitride radar and additional weapons capacity.

Also covered under the Franco-Ukrainian procurement deal are MBDA’s SAMP/T ground-based air defence systems, air defence radars, air-to-air missiles and air-to-ground bombs.

Kyiv says the agreement additionally covers joint French-Ukrainian production of “interceptor drones”, along with technologies and components for integration into existing Ukrainian-made unmanned systems. Work on the joint projects will begin before end-2025 and involve firms from both countries.

In a post to social media site X, the French president described the milestone as a “big day”.

“This is a short-term, medium-term and long-term perspective, and all of it is necessary,” says Macron. “Even if peace were signed tomorrow, this would still be essential, because the guarantee of that peace is a strong Ukrainian army able to hold its ground. These capabilities will provide that.”

Notably, Kyiv says the declaration “provides for the possibility” of technology transfer and joint aircraft production in Ukraine.

Kyiv recently signed a similar agreement with Swedish airframer Saab covering the potential acquisition of up to 150 Gripen E/F fighters. Saab is exploring options to expand Gripen production capacity in support of a Ukrainian buy, including with some level of Ukrainian assembly and a new factory in Canada.

The Ukrainian air force is already flying an unspecified number of Dassault’s older Mirage 2000-5 fighter, used examples of which Paris began transferring to Ukraine earlier this year.

Some European countries have also pledged to transfer nearly 100 of their American-made Lockheed Martin F-16A/B jets to Ukraine, as they replace those jets with Lockheed’s newer F-35 stealth type.

At least 25 F-16s are flying with the Ukrainian air force, according to aviation analytics company Cirium. Five more jets are listed as being in storage, while two are known to have been lost in combat.

The signing of sovereign purchase agreements for Western fighters is a significant step for Ukraine’s defence procurement capability, which has largely been reliant on allies approving the transfer of donated equipment from their own stores or at the expense of their own replenishment.

The long-delayed transfer of tactical jets like F-16s was a politically fraught issue under the administration of former US President Joe Biden, while the White House’s current occupant President Donald Trump has been a mercurial supporter of Kyiv’s war effort.

The ability to purchase sensitive equipment like Rafale and Gripen fighters directly from their manufacturers would mark a major advancement in Kyiv’s ability to replace battlefield losses and expand military capacity.

While Ukraine has proven adept at developing and producing small drones, long-range uncrewed aircraft and even long-range strike munitions, focus is increasingly turning toward high-end systems like cruise missiles and fighter jets needed to secure favourable terms for peace and deter future Russian aggression.

How exactly Kyiv will pay for such a sprawling purchase as 250 new fighter aircraft (in addition to crucially important ground-based air defences) is less clear. 

Military aircraft prices are notoriously opaque, but previous export deals indicate each Rafale costs over €100 million ($116 million), with the Gripen E running somewhat less, but still at least $85 million. Costs typically rise when adding on the sustainment support and weapons export customers will also need.

That means the full compliment of 100 Rafale F4s and 150 Gripens would likely cost Ukraine north of $20 billion – a massive sum for a war-torn country, whose economy has lost as much 40% of its prime aged workforce to emigration and military service.

In a video message recorded ahead of the deal signing with Macron, Zelensky noted that Ukraine had secured financing from several domestic and European banks, plus allied foreign governments, to support natural gas imports intended to offset the impacts of recent Russian air strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

He did not mention financing plans for armaments purchases.

In a press conference following the deal signing, Macron suggested a range of options, including loans financed by the seizure of Russian assets by G7 countries or the European Union’s new Security Action for Europe military procurement lending facility.

”Funding will come depending on deployment and will use our co-financing mechanisms,” the French president says.