The UK and French governments plan to order more of the Storm Shadow cruise missiles that they’ve been supplying to Ukraine, as well as accelerate efforts to develop a next-generation replacement for the weapons.

UK and France order more Storm Shadow missiles and step up military co-operation - Storm Shadow, or as the French call it SCALP, is a long-range missile which has been supplied to Ukraine.

The declaration will be signed on Thursday, as President Emmanuel Macron wraps up his three-day state visit in the UK. It will state that the respective deterrents of both countries remain under national control 'but can be coordinated,

French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Britain on Tuesday for a three-day state visit blending royal pageantry and political talks

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As London strengthens its ties with Washington and deepens its security relationship with Berlin, the French president's state visit to the United Kingdom highlights the fragile nature of defense collaboration between the two countries.

King Charles III highlighted the crucial bonds between the United Kingdom and France in the face of a “multitude of more complex threats,” as he welcomed President Emmanuel Macron for the first state visit by a European leader to his country since Brexit.

France and the UK, Western Europe’s two nuclear powers, said on Wednesday that they will now co-ordinate the use of their nuclear weapons and respond to any major threat to Europe together, a step seen as an effort to reassure European allies who are nervous about Washington’s commitment to the continent’s security.

The French president and PM Keir Starmer lay wreathes at the statue of Winston Churchill ahead of a state banquet in Windsor later.