On July 6, Ukrinform held a round table “Potential of hidden possibilities of rearmament of the Ukrainian Army. Ways of Realization “, initiated by the founders of the League of Defense Enterprises of Ukraine.

Participated in the round table:

Valentin Badrak – Director of the Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies (CADAC), Chairman of the Expert Council of the League of Defense Enterprises of Ukraine; Julia Vysotka – Director of International Relations of the League of Defense Enterprises of Ukraine; Oleg Vysotsky – Chairman of the Board of Directors of PJSC “Scientific-Production Association” Practice “, member of the Board of the League of Defense Enterprises of Ukraine; Natalia Demyanchuk – Deputy General Director for Finance LLC “NVK” TEKHIMPEKS “, member of the League of Defense Enterprises of Ukraine; Yuriy Yekhanurov is president of the Union of Entrepreneurs of Small, Medium and Privatized Enterprises of Ukraine, a member of the Supervisory Board of the League of Defense Enterprises of Ukraine; Sergiy Zhurets – Director of information and consulting company Defense Express, member of the Board of the League of Defense Enterprises of Ukraine; Viktor Krivenko – People’s Deputy of Ukraine, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Budget of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; Olga Kushnir is Head of Strategic Planning in the Defense and Security Sector of the Office for the Coordination of Defense and Security Activities in the Department for Strategic Development of the Defense and Security Sector of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade; Oleksandr Leshchenko – Head of the Department of Foreign Economic Activity, LLC “NVK” TEHIMPEKS “, member of the League of Defense Enterprises of Ukraine; Peter Mehet – First Deputy General Director of Concern “TechVahonservice”; Dmytro Timchuk – People’s Deputy of Ukraine, Head of the Center for Military-Political Research, Head of the “Information Resistance” group; Venyamin Filatov – Deputy Director of the Department for Strategic Development of the Defense and Security Sector – Head of the Department for Military-Industrial Policy of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade; Oleksandr Stetsenko – Deputy General Director of DK “Ukroboronprom”; Sergei Teteruk – Advisor to the General Director of the State Enterprise “Ukroboronprom”; Roksolana Sheiko – Director of the Information Policy Department of the DK “Ukroboronprom”.

Short:

During the event, the updated ideology of rearmament was presented taking into account the interests of private enterprises of the industrial complex of Ukraine. Positions were expressed regarding the untapped potential of creating modern weapons and military equipment in Ukraine, as well as the obstacles that are most hampered by the systemic rearmament of the Ukrainian army. Experts from the League of Defense Enterprises of Ukraine expressed their views on the solution of the problems, which already includes about forty private defense enterprises.

Results:
Public-private partnership in the defense industry needs to be strengthened
In order to make more effective use of the public-private partnership potential, state-funded research and development should be included in the private sector’s preparation for production, solvency of royalties for arms manufacturers and military equipment (VTs), as well as independent outsourcing of private defense companies to foreign markets.

This was stated by the director of the Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies (Head of the Expert Council of the League of Defense Enterprises of Ukraine) Valentyn Badrak during a round table discussion at Ukrinform on “Potential of hidden possibilities of rearming the Ukrainian Army: ways to implement it”.

“We need to pay attention to greater cooperation with the private defense sector, which demonstrates great flexibility and ability to supply the latest weapons to the national army,”– he said.

Regarding the external aspect, here, Baudrik believes, should solve “the issue of the release of private defense companies to foreign markets on their own.”

“The modern time requirement is to enable private military companies to resolve issues of foreign trade independently,” Badrak said.

He also emphasized the importance of creating conditions in which new technologies will come to the country in the framework of military-technical cooperation.

“The situation with the re-equipment of Ukraine communication systems has shown that Ukraine is not ready for system military-technical co-operation. And this question must be solved absolutely fast. Due to the influence of other states and individual politicians or officials who intervened in the process, in practice, for 2.5 months, the issue of re-equipment of troops with modern communication systems has been suspended, “Badrak said.

In his opinion, a number of issues can be resolved in law, partly through work in the government.

For his part, Oleg Vysotsky, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Scientific-Production Association “Practice”, a member of the Board of the League of Defense Enterprises of Ukraine, emphasized that private defense enterprises, as well as state-owned ones, can not currently propose anything new from weapons without additional financial infusions from the state. In particular, he pointed out that, for example, the EU has created a fund that finances the development of defense technologies.

“The state of our funds, which is now, both in the public and private sectors, is horrible. If we (private producers – ed.) Simply do not have it, then in the public sector – he is very old. In humans, in the development of science over the past 10-15 years nothing has been invested. So today, we have something to offer a new one (and the Defense Ministry, the National Guard, the new one) can not. When there was enthusiasm at the beginning of the war, then the public sector, which had accumulated some money from exports, and private traders, due to their earlier developments, could invest in the development of new products, “he said.

Next to this, the issue of resolving the structure of pricing is very important, Mr. Vysotsky added.