Europe realizes that Ukraine is ahead in some areas of military weaponry - aviation expert

Aviation expert Anatolii Khrapchynskyi, Deputy Director General of the company engaged in electronic warfare, said this on the Espreso TV channel.

“Europe understands that we are a little bit ahead in some areas of military armament. This is because we are “at zero” here. We receive information around the clock and try to improve our products as quickly as possible. That is why we are ahead of some Western developments. But I would point out that we need to collaborate with Western companies. In fact, they also have a lot to offer us. There have already been some discussions about opening a production facility in Ukraine by supplying a full range of production equipment and facilities. This is so that we can do it in Ukraine later,” he said.

Comparing this year's EU-Ukraine Defense Industry Forum in Brussels with the Forum in Warsaw last year, Khrapchynskyi noted that there is a significant difference in communication with Western partners and European companies that produce weapons. 

“Last year there was an offer from European companies, something like ‘buy this and that". And now manufacturers of certain products come up and say: “Can you put an electronic warfare device on our products?” We can, so let's do it. Representatives of some states also come up and say that they can finance or ask what we have in service so that they can buy it and transfer it directly to military units,” he added. 

Over the past two years, Ukraine has managed to gain certain capabilities, increase them based on its own developments, and scale up some areas of weapons production, the aviation expert says.

“But there is a significant problem: components and financing. Because the state does not have enough funding. We need to find it at the expense of our Western partners. Yes, we need help, we really can't refuse it, we need to ask for it, including high-tech strike weapons, heavy equipment, aircraft, ATACMS, HIMARS. We need all this because we cannot produce it so quickly. We can produce electronic warfare equipment, some armored vehicles. We have successful areas, for example, UAVs of different distances. But there is also a need for equipment. It is important that there are already positive aspects of European funding for Ukrainian companies, which will then be able to supply their products directly to the troops,” Khrapchynskyi summarized.

• Following the onset of Russia's full-scale aggression in Ukraine, a network of hidden weapons production plants began operating across the country.