Ukraine lost production of explosives, gunpowder, shells and fuses - ZN

The country's defense-industrial complex is not in a position to fully meet the needs of the Armed Forces in armaments, military and special equipment in connection with the insufficient volumes of serial production of new and modernized weapons and military equipment. This was reported by Zerkalo Nedeli with reference to the document of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

"Minister of Defense S.Poltorak sent a multi-page document No. 220/3650 to the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on the problematic issues of the activities of the Ukrainian defense-industrial complex. According to the Defense Ministry, the country's defense and industrial complex is not able to fully meet the needs of the Armed Forces in armaments, military and special equipment in connection with the insufficient volumes of serial (small-tonnage) production of new and modernized weapons and military equipment (WME), which is associated with the aging of production assets and its ineffective use. This leads to an increase in cost of production due to administrative costs and unprepared production, unfinished process of import replacement of components for existing WME models, extensive search of elements of foreign production", - the ZN article says.

"All the above listed factors lead to a disruption in the supply of weapons for the Armed Forces. According to the Minister of Defense, in 2016, the SE Kyiv Armored Plant supplied 26 BTR-3DA armored personnel carriers instead of the 42, the SE KMDB - half of the ordered simulators for the T-64 tank, the SE Artillery Armament in the contracted terms delivered 98 units of 82-mm mortar instead of 140, PJSC Mayak Plant - 250 units of 120 mm mortar Molot instead of 280. It is clear that the failure of the timeframes for executing contracts by enterprises and the number of not supplied equipment and weapons have a significant impact on the combat readiness and defense capability of the armed forces. The greatest problem of the Defense Ministry, however, is the insufficiency of the volumes of armored personnel carriers, which does not allow to staff more than three dozen battalions", - the author continues.

Further, the author notes that the government has not pledged funding for these sectors even in 2018.

"In Ukraine, according to the most conservative estimates, 80% of the radioelectronic element base for airplanes, helicopters, SAMs and other high-tech products is not produced. The prospects for solving these issues are vague. They have not been adequately reflected in the State Program for the Reform and Development of the Defense Industry until 2021. Accordingly, it will be very problematic to finance at least one of the above listed issues from the state budget even in 2018".

"It should be noted that the Defense Ministry assesses the critical supply of the army with 7.62 mm ammunition to sniper rifles, 12.7 caliber to the machine guns, large calibers from 23 to 152 mm for artillery systems, grenade launcher shots of all types and calibers", - the publication notes.

"To date, Ukraine has lost the production of explosives, gunpowder, shells and fuses", - the article says.

"The possibility of equipping anti-tank guided missiles, ammunition of medium and large artillery calibers, warheads of aerial bombs and their repair, ballistic powders for high-precision missiles, grenade launchers and rocket launcher systems is completely lost. All this, of course, can be bought abroad if someone sells it to us", - the author states.