Ukraine is actively developing the production of missiles and drones, and a major missile program will be announced in the near future. This was announced by the Minister of Defense Rustem Umyerov during his speech at the second International Forum of Defense Industries (DFNC2).
“We’ve been focusing lately on the missile and drone programs. You’ll hear a lot next year or the end of this year about the big missile program. We’ve already started working on ballistic missiles.”Umerov said.
The minister also noted that last year the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine invested about 4 billion dollars in the development of local defense production. Currently, long-term contracts for 2-5 years are being actively concluded, and 10-year agreements are planned to be signed in the future.
“We are looking for ways to simplify the system, we are trying to simplify procedures. I just had a meeting with the budget committee of the Verkhovna Rada, where I asked for their support for the budget for next year. We will invest more in our defense sector.”, – emphasized Umyerov.
Long-term investments and agreements, he said, are necessary to support defense production after the end of the war, as well as to enter export markets.
This year’s Defense Industries Forum brought together more than 280 companies from 32 countries and organizations. More than 700 visitors attended and seven different agreements were signed.
The day before, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine has already started the production of weapons that it did not have before, in particular, 155-caliber artillery shells and long-range drones. Also, the country has created a new ballistic missile, which has already successfully passed flight tests.
