Access is open: private manufacturers will help state-owned ones scale up arms production
10 March 2025 11:49
The government has supported a resolution that regulates the rules for the transfer of design documentation for Ukrainian weapons to various business entities to scale up its production. This was announced by the Minister for Strategic Industries of Ukraine Herman Smetanin, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The decision to transfer design documentation can be made by a government customer in the field of defense procurement if it plans to purchase weapons in quantities that exceed the capacity of state-owned enterprises to produce them.
“This will help to cover the needs of the Defense Forces in weapons and military equipment to a greater extent by domestic defense enterprises and scale up the production of Ukrainian weapons and military equipment. As a result, producers will be able to receive more contracts and produce more defense goods,” emphasized Smetanin.
He also said that the resolution regulates the issue of preserving state secrets and protecting intellectual property rights.
What is the procedure for transferring design documentation?
The decision to transfer design documentation is made by the government customer, taking into account the production capacity of the enterprise.
The basis for the decision is the need to purchase a certain type of weapon, as well as the fact that this need exceeds the manufacturer’s capacity.
In this case, the state customer informs the Ministry of Strategic Industries of the need to scale up production of a certain type and the need to select business entities to scale up production.
The Ministry of Strategic Industries prepares proposals for companies that manufacture similar or similar samples and sends them to the government customer.
The state customer then checks the identified enterprises for experience in the production of relevant weapons samples, sufficient production capacity and technical ability to master the production of the sample, absence of debts and ties with the aggressor state.
The results of the inspection and proposals for the list of business entities are submitted to the Interagency Commission on the Defense Industry, which provides its recommendations. Based on these recommendations, the government customer makes a decision, and within 14 days, an agreement on the transfer of design documentation must be concluded.
The next step is to master the production by the enterprise, and the readiness for serial production is determined by the results of qualification tests of the specified weapon.
The Ministry of Defense is modernizing defense procurement
In order to strengthen the capabilities of its procurement officers, the Ministry of Defense is currently implementing a plan to review the Strategic Review of Ukraine’s Defense Procurement System, which sets out key priorities for 2025 and tasks for 2026-2027.
The document covers such changes as digitalization of procurement processes, expansion of international cooperation and implementation of anti-corruption mechanisms.
In particular, the approved plan provides for
development of a detailed transformation plan for defense procurement management;
standardization of defense procurement practices among the components of the security and defense sector;
development of a framework structure for defense procurement contracting procedures, including direct contracts and closed tenders;
collecting, summarizing and analyzing lessons learned from the experience of developing and managing defense procurement during the war;
sharing the results of the analysis of lessons learned by Ukraine with NATO member states, etc.
Director of the Procurement Policy Department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Hlib Kanevskyi said that the defense procurement budget for 2025 is UAH 497.7 billion.
