Tajikistan
Historically, Tajikistan has been an agrarian country. During the Soviet era, industry appeared and began to develop, but the agricultural sector still remained one of the foundations of the economy of this Central Asian republic. During the years of the existence of the Tajik SSR, power engineering, heavy and light industry, mining and processing enterprises appeared and began to develop. At the same time, the highest priority was given to agriculture, mining and processing of minerals, as well as the chemical industry. In connection with this development policy, specialized defense enterprises were not built in Tajikistan.
Nevertheless, there were some enterprises in the Tajik SSR that supplied military products. At the beginning of 1968, a new chemical plant was founded in Istiklol, which appeared as a branch of the Aleksin chemical plant. At the end of the same year, the enterprise received the name "Zarya Vostoka" and soon became a branch of the Biysk chemical plant. The Zarya Vostoka plant processed various raw materials and produced solid rocket fuel and other products. In addition, part of the enterprise's production facilities was engaged in the processing of uranium raw materials for atomic energy and nuclear weapons.
The sharp decline in production that occurred after the formation of the independent Republic of Tajikistan hit many enterprises hard, including the Zarya Vostoka plant. The plant had to change the composition of its products, focusing on industrial and civil products: from various metal structures to rubber galoshes. At the same time, the plant retained its capabilities for the production of pyroxylin, nitrocellulose and other materials suitable for military use.
In 2005, Moscow and Dushanbe signed an agreement, according to which the Zarya Vostoka plant was to deal with the disposal of solid rocket fuel. Disposal started in 2010 and should be completed in 2015. For five years, the plant was supposed to process about 200 tons of fuel and industrial waste stored since Soviet times.
In September 2012, the CSTO member states agreed to conduct a joint program for the modernization of the defense industry. On the territory of the states belonging to the organization, new military production was to appear. In addition, the possibility of restoring and modernizing existing enterprises was not ruled out. In March 2013, the Tajik media reported that Russian specialists visited the Zarya Vostoka plant and discussed the production and supply of various products, including military ones.
It should be noted that Zarya Vostoka is the only Tajik enterprise included in the lists of military factories of the CSTO countries. Thus, in the foreseeable future, this chemical plant can resume the production of military products, which was discontinued about 20 years ago. At the same time, the enterprise will work in the interests of not only Tajikistan, but also other states.
Turkmenistan
The former Turkmen SSR is one of the few states in the post-Soviet space, which after the collapse of the USSR did not have a single defense enterprise. The fuel and energy complex has been and remains the basis of the Turkmen economy. Turkmenistan has large oil and gas fields that allow it to meet all its needs. Also, Turkmenistan has a developed agriculture and light industry, mainly textiles. There are a number of chemical industry enterprises.
Due to the lack of its own defense industry, official Ashgabat is forced to use old weapons and military equipment left over from the Soviet Union, as well as to turn to other states for help. Thus, in recent years, Russia has supplied Turkmenistan with a number of T-90S tanks, Smerch multiple launch rocket systems and Project 12418 Molniya missile boats. Various equipment and vehicles were purchased from Turkey.
In addition, in 2010, Turkmenistan and Turkey signed a contract for the construction of two NTPB patrol boats with an option for six units. In accordance with this contract, the Turkish company Dearsan Shipyard builds hull sections and modules, from which Turkmen shipbuilders assemble ready-made boats. The final assembly of the boats is carried out at the shipyard in the city of Turkmenbashi (formerly Krasnovodsk). In 2012, a second agreement appeared, according to which Turkish and Turkmen specialists must build and transfer eight more NTPB boats to the Turkmen Navy.
The fact of the final assembly of Turkish boats at the Turkmen plant may indicate that official Ashgabat intends not only to purchase ready-made military equipment abroad, but also to build it, including with the help of specialists from third countries. Nevertheless, even in this case, there will be only one plant in Turkmenistan capable of building military equipment. Naturally, this is not enough for the emergence of its own military-industrial complex. As a consequence, for the foreseeable future, the Turkmen armed forces will continue to depend on foreign enterprises.
Uzbekistan
The Uzbek SSR, like some other Central Asian republics of the Soviet Union, did not receive a developed defense industry. In Uzbekistan, several enterprises were built, the task of which was to manufacture various components, as well as one plant that built aircraft. All these enterprises were firmly connected with other Soviet factories, received their products and sent them theirs.
The problems of the nineties hit most of Uzbekistan's defense enterprises seriously. Some of them were forced to redesign, while others, at the cost of serious losses, managed to preserve the existing production. Good examples of events in the Uzbek defense sector can be considered the Mykond plant (Tashkent) and the Tashkent Aviation Production Association named after. V. P. Chkalov (TAPOiCH).
The Mikond plant, founded in 1948, was engaged in the production of radio components for the needs of several industries. The plant's products were sent to a large number of enterprises throughout the Soviet Union, where they were used in the manufacture of various systems. In 1971, Micond was the first in Central Asia to master the production of crystal, and in 1990 it began to produce household lamps, thanks to which it was able to survive the economic cataclysms of the nineties. After the collapse of the USSR, orders for electronic components fell sharply. Crystal and light fixtures quickly became the main products of the company. Currently, the Micond plant is called Onyx and exports crystal to several neighboring countries. Electronics production was completely stopped back in the nineties.
During the first years of independence of Uzbekistan, TAPOiCH experienced certain problems, but the work of the enterprise continued. The plant was transformed into a joint stock company, but remained in state ownership: only 10% of the shares were transferred to the employees. Since the beginning of the seventies, Il-76 military transport aircraft of various modifications have been built at TAPOiCH. After the collapse of the USSR, Ilyushin and TAPOiCh were able to begin serial construction of a new version of the aircraft, the Il-76MD. In the early nineties, Tashkent aircraft manufacturers built and tested the Il-114 passenger aircraft.
Nevertheless, by the beginning of the 2000s, the pace of aircraft construction had seriously fallen, because of which the plant had to master the manufacture of civilian products. To remedy the situation in the middle of the 2000s, the Russian United Aircraft Corporation proposed to the government of the Republic of Uzbekistan to include TAPOiCH in its composition. In 2007, official Tashkent responded to this proposal with consent, wishing to retain control over the enterprise. However, in the future, ambiguous political and economic processes began, as a result of which the Russian UAC abandoned its plans, and in 2010 the TAPOiCH bankruptcy procedure began. Since 2012, various objects of the former aircraft plant have been dismantled.
Having lost the only enterprise that produced finished products for military purposes, Uzbekistan only increased its dependence on foreign weapons and military equipment. Currently, the armed forces of Uzbekistan have exclusively Soviet-made equipment and weapons. There are no prerequisites for a change in this situation, including the emergence of weapons of our own design.
Ukraine
On the territory of the Ukrainian SSR there were about 700 enterprises engaged exclusively in the production of military products. Several thousand more factories and organizations took part in the work of the defense industry to one degree or another. In terms of the number of enterprises received, the Ukrainian defense industry was second only to the Russian one. It was believed that the defense complex of independent Ukraine has great prospects and is capable of providing both its own army and the armed forces of third countries with weapons and equipment. However, these predictions were not fully justified.
A large number of Ukrainian enterprises produced components for products assembled on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR and other union republics. In addition, a considerable number of factories assembled ready-made weapons and equipment. The severing of industrial ties with organizations that became foreign at one point led to the corresponding consequences. Most of the defense enterprises of Ukraine did not survive until the beginning of the 2000s: the number of operating institutes, factories and design bureaus decreased several times. The rest continued to work and collaborated with foreign colleagues.
To optimize the work of the military-industrial complex and coordinate the work of various enterprises in 2010, the state concern "Ukroboronprom" was created. The concern of the concern was to manage the defense industry and interact with the armed forces. In addition, Ukroboronprom had to work with foreign customers of Ukrainian military products. In the fall of 2013, five divisions were created in the structure of the concern, each of which is responsible for its own defense sector.
Even after the closure of most of the enterprises, the Ukrainian defense industry, under certain conditions (primarily in cooperation with the Russian defense industry), could produce various military equipment and components for it: launch vehicles, military transport aircraft, tanks, ships, helicopter engines, etc. … It should be noted that a number of enterprises of independent Ukraine continued to work together with foreign colleagues. For example, the Zaporozhye plant Motor Sich, which assembles aircraft engines, supplies to Russia more than 40% of its power plants for helicopters. In recent years, it was reported that Russian enterprises purchase about 10% of the products of the Ukrainian defense industry. The latter, in turn, is 70% dependent on Russian components.
The main reason for this dependence of the Ukrainian defense industry on Russian enterprises is the absence of a closed cycle in the production of various systems and equipment. The leadership of the industry at one time did not pay due attention to import substitution, which led to the results observed now. It must be admitted that even in such conditions, Ukraine was able to become a major exporter of military equipment. Back in the nineties, Ukrainian enterprises, with the approval of the country's leadership, began to remove existing equipment from storage, repair and modernize it, and then sell it to foreign countries. The implementation of such contracts was facilitated by the presence of a large number of repair plants capable of servicing the equipment of the ground forces and the air force. The main buyers of "used" tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles and other equipment were small and poor countries. In total, several thousand units of various equipment were sold.
The state of the Ukrainian defense industry made it possible to start several projects aimed at updating the fleet of equipment of the armed forces. It is noteworthy that there are no own projects of equipment for the air force, and the renewal of the naval forces faced a number of difficulties. So, in the middle of the 2000s, it was planned that the Black Sea Shipyard (Nikolaev) would build 20 corvettes of the new project 58250 with the delivery of the lead ship in 2012. Subsequently, the plans were repeatedly adjusted. In accordance with current plans, the lead corvette Volodymyr the Great will be transferred to the Navy no earlier than 2015.
The Ukrainian military-industrial complex has achieved much greater success in the field of armored vehicles. Over the years of independence, Ukrainian enterprises, using the existing experience, have created several projects of new armored vehicles. In addition, projects for the modernization of existing equipment were developed. In the first half of the two thousandth Kharkiv Design Bureau for Mechanical Engineering. A. A. Morozov (KMDB) presented a project of deep modernization of the main T-64 tank called T-64BM "Bulat". Until 2012, the ground forces received 76 tanks that were repaired and modernized to the state of the T-64BM. In 2009, the T-84U "Oplot" tank was put into service, which is a deep modernization of the T-80UD tank. To date, only 10 of these machines have been delivered to the troops. In 2009, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine ordered 10 newest BM Oplot tanks. In total, it is planned to purchase 50 of these tanks. However, even five years after the signing of the contract, the troops did not receive a single vehicle of the new model.
At the beginning of the 2000s, the construction of the BTR-3 armored personnel carriers, created by the KMDB on the basis of the BTR-80 project, began. Due to limited financial capabilities, the Ukrainian military first ordered these vehicles only in 2014. Meanwhile, serial BTR-3s are already in operation in ten foreign countries. For example, the Thai armed forces have more than a hundred such vehicles, and the UAE ground forces operate 90 BTR-3s. The BTR-4 armored personnel carrier, developed from scratch at the KMDB, has not yet received such widespread distribution. So, before the beginning of 2013, Ukraine managed to transfer to Iraq about a hundred out of 420 ordered armored vehicles, after which the deliveries were stopped. The Iraqi military accused the Ukrainian industry of missed deadlines and poor product quality. The 42 armored vehicles that Iraq had abandoned were returned to the manufacturer and handed over to the National Guard in the spring of 2014. In May 2014, the Ministry of Defense ordered more than one and a half hundred BTR-4 armored personnel carriers of several modifications.
The Ukrainian defense industry complex is also capable of supplying the army with automotive equipment (KrAZ trucks), modernized MLRS (BM-21 on the KrAZ chassis), anti-tank missile systems (Stugna-P, Skif, etc.), several types of small arms and various equipment. At the same time, Ukraine does not have the ability to produce anti-aircraft missile systems, combat aircraft, field artillery, mortars, as well as weapons and military equipment of some other classes.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, independent Ukraine received a fairly powerful defense-industrial complex, which included hundreds of enterprises. Not all of them were able to survive the difficult first years of independence, but the rest tried not only to survive, but also to master the production of new products or even to win a place in the international arms market. At the same time, the Ukrainian defense industry was constantly pursued by several problems, first of all, insufficient attention from the country's leadership, as well as the lack of orders from the Ministry of Defense. As a result, a number of important defense enterprises were forced to reorient themselves to cooperation with foreign states.
Until recently, it was impossible to make unambiguous forecasts regarding the future of the defense industry of Ukraine. Ukrainian defense enterprises are capable of producing products that may interest the military of Ukraine or foreign countries. At the same time, the capabilities of the industry are limited, and the quality of products, as shown by the contract for the supply of armored personnel carriers to Iraq, sometimes leaves much to be desired. In this regard, forecasting the further development of the Ukrainian defense industry was difficult, but we can say that the leadership of independent Ukraine and its defense industry did not fully take advantage of the opportunities that remained after the collapse of the USSR.
The change of power and the subsequent events in the political, economic and military spheres make it possible to make certain predictions about the future of the defense industry complex. Apparently, the economic problems of Ukraine in the near future will seriously hit both the defense sector and the entire industry as a whole. The termination of military-technical cooperation with Russia, which is threatened by the new Ukrainian leadership, can lead to even more dire consequences. Time will tell which enterprises will cope with these blows and which ones will have to cease to exist.
Estonia
After gaining independence, Estonia did not acquire its own defense industry. Only a few enterprises remained on the territory of this state, producing components for other industries. Official Tallinn immediately abandoned the construction and development of its own defense industry, counting on the help of foreign partners. It must be admitted that these hopes were justified: already in the first years of the country's independence, the Estonian armed forces began to receive foreign weapons and military equipment.
In 1992, the Estonian military began to receive financial assistance, as well as equipment and weapons of various types. For example, Germany handed over to Estonia two L-410 transport planes, 8 boats, 200 cars and several tens of tons of various cargoes. Subsequently, NATO countries and other foreign countries transferred or sold to Estonia various equipment and weapons.
Back in the first half of the nineties, various private and state-owned companies producing various military products began to appear in Estonia. The small size of the country's military budget and the purchase of quality products abroad affected the fate of these enterprises - some of them had to close. An example is the E-arsenal factory in Tallinn. It belonged to the state and produced ammunition for small arms. For more than ten years of operation, the enterprise failed to bring production volumes to the required level and could not compete with foreign cartridge factories. As a result, in 2010 the E-arsenal factory ceased its economic activities, and in 2012 the official Tallinn initiated the procedure for its liquidation.
It must be admitted that Estonian enterprises can operate without losses and even receive large orders from foreign countries. In the spring of 2013, the Estonian Ministry of Defense announced the start of subsidizing weapons and military equipment projects created by local companies. The most successful firms can count on support in the amount of 300 thousand euros. As an example of a successful project, the military cited the development of the ELI company - the Helix-4 unmanned aerial vehicle, designed to perform reconnaissance tasks. In November 2013, the Estonian Defense Industry Association named Baltic Workboats shipyard the best company of the year. The shipyard received the honorary title thanks to the Swedish order for the construction of five Baltic 1800 Patrol patrol boats worth 18 million euros.
In recent years, a number of private companies have sprung up in Estonia to develop various military systems. To coordinate the work of these organizations, the Union of Defense Enterprises was created. However, we can already say that in the foreseeable future Estonia will not be able to create a full-fledged defense-industrial complex and get rid of the existing dependence on foreign supplies. Nevertheless, one cannot fail to note the country's desire to develop its own production and enter the international market.
