Ukrainian state arms maker Ukroboronprom announced it has started manufacturing 125mm tank ammunition in joint venture with an undisclosed NATO-member country. The production lines are situated outside Ukraine, the enterprise's press service noted.
"On an order from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the first batch of 125mm ammunition for T-64, T-72 and T-80 tanks has been delivered for the Defense Forces of Ukraine to fight off the occupiers," the statement said.
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The state concern pointed out that it's already the second type of ammunition that entered mass production in cooperation with a NATO country: earlier Ukroboronprom revealed the start of 120mm mortar shells production at several facilities, some of them located in a European state.
It also reminds that beside the 125mm shell, the Ukrainian defense industry managed to establish production of 82mm and 120mm mortar shells, 152mm and 155mm artillery shells as well.
All the lines are abroad but the personnel behind them are all Ukrainian specialists.
As Defense Express earlier reported, Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov outlined the top priority for Ukrainian abroad defense industrial facilities is to ramp up the rates of production of the Soviet-type shells like the 125mm one.
As for the NATO-standard ammunition, he was expecting Ukraine's NATO partners to make sure the western guns of the frontlines don't stop shooting. And the plea was heard: many countries step up to expand the production of artillery ammo and various missiles. In particular, Spanish weapon maker FMG has fully loaded its lines with 155mm shells and the EU is setting an "ambitious plan" to incite European companies to invest in expansion of capacity.
Read more: Ukraine Has Enough 155mm Shells, But Will Produce More if Bohdana Howitzer Enters Production
