In Ukraine, the production of mortar rounds increased by 42 times, and artillery shells by almost three times.
The Minister of Strategic Industry Oleksandr Kamyshin informed about this at a press conference, as “Ukrinform” reports.
According to him, the Armed Forces need more, but the growth of production is restrained due to the shortage of explosives, gunpowder in the world, so the department is working on starting to produce them. In particular, involve private companies in this.
Ukraine began to produce something that had not been produced for many years: a 125-caliber tank shell, cartridges for small arms, VOG-17, VOG-25, factory ammunition for drones. The production of anti-tank missiles is increasing "multiple times".
"And also the 2S22 Bohdana, the pace of production of which brought it to the level of the giants of the worldʼs defense industry. Stuhna has doubled in size," the minister added.
As Kamyshin noted, analogues of the Shahed-131 (more than five analogues) and Shahed-136 (one) drones are being mass-produced in Ukraine.
"And the position of ammunition for UAVs is very necessary today. Several dozen companies have already passed tests with their products. And today we are ready to produce a sufficient amount of ammunition for UAVs by both state and private companies," said the official.
Regarding the repair of tanks, this issue has already been resolved. A sufficient number of factories and people work in this direction.
Hybrid anti-aircraft systems from the FrankenSAM project are operating at the front: Soviet systems have been integrated into Western-style missiles and launchers. They are created jointly by Ukrainian and American companies.
What is the FrankenSAM program?
In October of this year, the American newspaper The New York Times wrote that Ukraine and the United States have created a hybrid air defense system that combines advanced Western surface-to-air missiles with modernized Soviet-era launchers or radars.
The project implements three anti-aircraft missile complexes: the integration of RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles into the Buk air defense system, the integration of the AIM-9M air-to-air missile with the Soviet radar system, as well as another complex, which is called the most powerful. It is believed to have elements of the Patriot air defense system. According to media reports, the Patriot missile is being integrated into a launch station that works with older Ukrainian radar systems.
An official representative of the Pentagon said that the tests of this system in October of this year were successful. It is noted that variants of hybrid air defense systems were tested at military bases in the USA and were to be delivered to Ukraine in the fall. In December, the United States and Ukraine signed a declaration on the joint production of weapons.
- Currently, the defense industry of Ukraine has 300 000 people, 500 companies, including almost 400 private ones. In 2023, 1.5% of the 4.9% increase in Ukraineʼs GDP was provided by the defense industry.