In 2012, Ukraine started to pick up the pace of recovery of its military equipment and weapons, and this work should be expanded in the coming years, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Andriy Kliuyev has said.
He was commenting on the first results of the work of the state-owned concern Ukroboronprom and the progress of forming the state defense order for next year, the NSDC’s press service reported.
Kliuyev recalled that the company was established by the presidential decree in early 2011, and by the end of the year the bulk of the domestic defense industry enterprises were transferred under its management. The actual work of the concern started this year, and has already produced good results, the NSDC secretary said.
According to him, this year 15 vessels will be commissioned, the army will receive the latest BTR-4 armored personnel carrier, 36 aircraft and helicopters will be repaired or upgraded. Already, 12 upgraded MiG-29, Su-25 and L-39 aircraft were put into service, and are being tested in tactical aviation units, Kliuyev said. He added that the Armed Forces expected to get more than eighty aircraft within the next five years.
According to him, a new ZTM1 automatic gun was put into service in the spring of 2011, it will be mounted on armored personnel carriers, domestic and infantry combat vehicles.
In addition, this year the Armed Forces have put into service several new units of military equipment, including the Bars-S parachute system and the P-18 Malakhit ground-based radar station, Kliuyev said. He also added that for the Euro-2012 European Football Championship the air defense forces received a number of other technical means to effectively control the country’s air space.
The NSDC secretary also said that they had done a great work on Corvette program. “In terms of restoring the capacity of the Ukrainian defense industry it is important that most component parts of this project will be replaced by those produced in Ukraine. More than 100 companies in all regions of Ukraine are involved in the construction of domestic vessels,” he said.
According to Kliuyev, the troops will soon receive modern digital means of navigation and high-precision weapons.
The research and design work and the cooperation with research institutes of the National Academy of Sciences have intensified, the NSDC secretary said. In particular, they are developing infrared imagers, drones and new types of ammunition.
In addition, Kliuyev said that new military uniform was being developed based on the best international standards.
