The Interior Ministry of Ukraine is interested in purchase of rapid-deployment fortification protection systems made under the technology designed by Hesco Bastion Inc. (the United States), production of which T.M.M. Firm LLC (Kyiv) plans to start.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov presented the plans after testing the systems at the training ground of the National Guard in Novi Petrivtsi (Kyiv region) on Feb. 3 with the participation of representatives of Hesco and T.M.M. Firm as an exclusive representative of the U.S. company in Ukraine.
“I think that we will cooperate with Hesco and guys who will produce this on the territory of Ukraine [T.M.M. Firm] and we’ll do this very quickly,” he told reporters.
As for the possible volumes of financing and orders by the National Guard, Avakov said that the details will be announced after finishing negotiations.
Avakov positively assessed the tests of the systems.
T.M.M. Firm Director Mykola Tolmachev said that if there were orders the company is ready to pay for the patent of Hesco Bastion Inc. and start production of the systems during three or four months.
“We will produce around 150 kilometers of systems a month, and this will be enough for the needs of our homeland,” he said, adding that the cost of a system of 1.5 meters wide and 2.2 meters high is $100 per meter on average.
If T.M.M. Firm buys the patent of Hesco Bastion Inc., the Ukrainian company will be able to export the products under the Hesco license to all countries, apart from Russia and Uzbekistan, Tolmachev said.
Technical Representative at Hesco Bastion Inc. Aaron Ackley said that under the company’s technology today there is a possibility of producing a multi-cellular wall system manufactured from welded zinc-aluminum coated steel wire mesh and joined with vertical, helical-coil joints. The units are lined with a heavy-duty non-woven polypropylene geotextile.
