Ukrainian Armor defense company and Czechoslovak Group (CSG), one of the largest defense holdings in Europe, have signed an agreement for the Ukrainian company to obtain licenses to produce various NATO-caliber artillery ammunition.
CEO of Ukrainian Armor Vladyslav Belbas said this on the Security Talks program with Valentyn Badrak, the company's press service reports.
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The announcement details that the agreement provides for licenses to produce standard 155 mm M107 shells, 155 mm L15 high explosive shells, long-range shells, 105 mm shells and 120 mm tank shells. According to the CEO of Ukrainian Armor, it is a "mega-project to provide Ukraine with NATO artillery ammunition."
The terms of this project stipulate that at the beginning, the level of localization will be more than 50% of all work at the facilities in Ukraine. In the next stages, 80% of the total work will be carried out in Ukraine, while the remaining 20% will be covered by imports.
Since the key issue in the production of artillery shells is the availability of powder and components, including fuzes and caps, it is crucial for European partners to guarantee the supply of these elements to the Ukrainian defense industry for domestic ammunition production.
In return, the Ukrainian defense industry guarantees the purchase of certain volumes of finished products, which is important for the European partners, says Vladyslav Belbas.
According to him, the implementation of a joint project with CSG to produce ammunition has several positive aspects for the Ukrainian defense industry. "First of all, the license means quality. Secondly, we get a guarantee for the supply of components. Thirdly, this is a good project from the perspective of the trade balance, as performing part of the work in Ukraine reduces production costs."
As Defense Express, we should emphasize that this project is of truly strategic importance for the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The wider the production base for NATO-caliber ammunition at Ukrainian defense industry facilities, the more opportunities the Ukrainian army will have to gradually phase out Soviet-era artillery and expand its fleet of NATO-standard artillery.
Earlier Defense Express reported that the Czech company had provided Ukraine with more than 700,000 euros for anti-tank grenade launchers.
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