Recently, the head of Ukraine's mission to the North Atlantic Alliance, Ambassador I. Didenko, said that the Ukrainian government is taking a number of measures to develop relations with NATO at a qualitatively new level in the military sector. During an interview for the Interfax-Ukraine agency, he noted that due to certain circumstances, relations between Ukraine and the member countries of the alliance were in limbo. Therefore, the Ukrainian authorities will do their utmost to ensure that these contacts develop regularly. Didenko also said that meetings of representatives of the two sides are scheduled for February. He also stressed that during the talks, the Ukrainian side intends to work out the prospect of attracting the Ukrainian military-industrial complex to NATO contacts in order to participate in them and submit their applications.
Historically, the arms trade has been one of the priority factors in international relations. Since it is one of the aspects of the foreign policy of each state, the military trade has always attracted and will continue to attract the attention of not only the world community, but also potential opponents and competitors, experts, as well as individuals. The percentage of arms exports is about 2 percent of total world exports. And over the past decade, about $ 300 billion in arms have been sold. According to experts, about 50 exporting states and about 120 importers are involved in the arms trade.
It is not surprising that Ukraine is trying to find its place in the world arms trade market. At the time of the proclamation of independence on the territory of Ukraine, the military-industrial complex included about 3, 5 thousand enterprises, which employed 3 million people.
Today, the military-industrial complex of the Ukrainian state has a fairly high export potential in such areas as the development and modernization of military transport and combat aircraft and helicopters, the production of gas turbines and equipment based on military ships, the development and production of rocket and space complexes and missiles., development and research of samples of military equipment and weapons.
A. Artyushenko, director of the Department of Development and Procurement of Military Equipment and Armaments of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, said that the ministry plans to adopt the Sapsan missile system by 2016. This is perhaps the first time in the entire period of independence when the government allocates a significant amount for the development of modern weapons of its own. This decision was confirmed by the President of Ukraine V. Yanukovych during his visit to the military factories of Kharkov. The design will be carried out by the specialists of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, who were the authors of 12 out of 20 similar developments during the Soviet era. All defense enterprises of the country will be engaged in construction. Thus, it will be a national Ukrainian development. The decision to create the Sapsan missile system was made back in 2006. It was planned that experimental tests of it would be carried out in 2013, and in a few years, that is, in 2015, it was planned to start equipping the Ukrainian army with new weapons. But, since practically no funds were allocated for development, then, accordingly, no work on its creation was carried out. Thus, the deadlines for the delivery of the complex are postponed. However, according to some military experts, if the required amount - approximately $ 460 million - is found, then the first missiles will be ready by 2015.
Recall that Ukraine has previously made attempts to create such missile systems. The first of them was carried out in 1994, when Yuzhnoye began development of the Borisfen small and medium-range complex. The second is the OTRK "Thunder", which was planned to be used as a defense of non-nuclear deterrence for the Ukrainian borders. But the lack of funds led to the fact that both of these projects were curtailed.
The new Sapsan missile system should surpass the Tochka-U in terms of technical characteristics. Its effectiveness lies in low vulnerability and high mobility. According to the project, "Sapsan" will be based on a car chassis, and the missiles during operation will not require any additional cash costs for maintenance. Thus, according to Ukrainian experts, the new complex will be much cheaper than its closest competitor, the Russian Iskander, which costs approximately $ 1 billion.
Experts are very ambiguous about the desire of the Ukrainian government to create its own missile system. Some are sure that its creation and subsequent purchase will have a huge moral and psychological significance for the Ukrainian military, since during all the years of independence the Ukrainian army has not received a single complex. Others argue that if the state cannot sell a single complex to other countries, then production will be unprofitable. Another part of the experts believes that such a development is inexpedient, since in Ukraine there is neither a specially equipped test site, nor a guidance system that could ensure the accuracy of missile hits. Russian experts generally say that the project is not feasible in the conditions of Ukraine, but even if it is created, the complex will not be able to compete with Iskander.
It should be noted that a year ago, as an alternative to the development, the possibility of equipping the Ukrainian armed forces with Russian Iskander was considered, however, according to the Ukrainian politician, such a step would only aggravate the dependence of the Ukrainian state on Russia and lead to a complete freeze of the Sapsan project.
From the same military initiatives of Ukraine are not enthusiastic and NATO, which before admission to the alliance of Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria demanded the disbandment of missile units. Moreover, the United States of America insistently demanded that the Ukrainian government destroy the Scud complexes. Ukraine's accession to the MTCR and the agreement on the INF Treaty were cited as arguments.
Despite numerous difficulties, the Ukrainian government decided to create the Sapsan. Updating missile weapons is important for the state, since most of the complexes that are in service with the Ukrainian army - "Smerch", "Grad", "Uragan" - have already exhausted their resources and need modernization. But neither the missiles themselves, nor their components are produced in Ukraine. The Tochka-U complexes, which are currently in service, are working out their service life until 2015. Therefore, the creation of a new missile system that could replace obsolete weapons is the most optimal option for Ukraine, especially since its production will require the cooperation of a large number of enterprises, and this is thousands of jobs.
According to A. Artyushenko, by 2016, the Ukrainian army will also receive the first corvette ship. In general, it is planned to build 4 ships of this class by 2020.
To date, the Ukrainian fleet does not have ships in the far sea zone, and the flagship of the Hetman Sagaidachny naval forces, the Ternopil and Lutsk corvettes, and the landing ship Konstantin Olshansky take part in the international exercises.
The decision to develop a warship for the Ukrainian naval forces was made back in 2006. The project is being carried out by the Nikolaev Research and Design Center for Shipbuilding, which announced that the new ship will combine the tasks of a frigate and a corvette.
Minister of Defense of Ukraine M. Yezhel said that 29 enterprises of Ukraine will be involved in the construction. UAH 200 million will be allocated for the design work. The total budget of the program will be 16, 2 billion hryvnia, of which 11 billion will be used for the construction of ships.
The lead ship - "Vladimir the Great" - was laid down in Nikolaev in May last year. According to the project, the new ship is planned to be equipped with modern technology. At the same time, the Minister of Defense said that this would not be Russian equipment and weapons, but purchases would be made in Italy and France, and diesel generators would be purchased from the United States. It is assumed that the ship will be equipped with anti-ship missiles, the range of which is about 200 kilometers. Each corvette will have 8 Exocet MM40 Block3 missiles, as well as an anti-aircraft missile system of the same company.
In addition, M. Yezhel called on the Ukrainian population to make charitable contributions for the construction of a new warship and even promised to transfer his monthly salary.
Recall that during the independence of the Ukrainian state, the naval forces received only two corvettes: in 1994 - "Lutsk", in 2005 - "Ternopil". In total, the Ukrainian Navy has 56 ships, of which 28 are combat ships.
The state project of the target defense program for the development of military equipment and weapons for 2012-2017 provides for the provision of the armed forces with new and modernized equipment in order to fulfill their combat missions.
It is planned to allocate about UAH 17 billion for the development of the program in five years. In addition, it will allow defining priorities in the development of the defense industry, which will contribute to the creation of modern weapons. It is planned to involve about 160 enterprises of the military-industrial complex of the Ukrainian state in the implementation of the program.
