European countries, faced with the challenges of producing a sufficient amount of weapons for Ukraine, have proposed a new strategy that will allow much faster delivery of weapons to Kyiv. The Wall Street Journal reports , this approach involves purchasing weapons in other countries and redirecting them to Ukraine, which will help to avoid lengthy production processes.
Under the new approach, the Europeans finance Ukrainian state contracts with Ukrainian arms manufacturers to produce equipment for the armed forces, including long-range missiles and drones that can inflict damage on Russian territory. Kyiv tells its partners which companies to work with and buy weapons from, while the Europeans check the manufacturers themselves before agreeing to deals.
Ukraine will still rely on Western partners for advanced weapons, such as Patriot missiles. But officials say the new approach will allow Kyiv to get weapons faster and in larger quantities than waiting for European weapons to be produced. Ukraine can do this, because now, due to insufficient funding, its arms industry is operating far below the level of its production capacity. According to some estimates, by 30%.
Supporters of this approach say that Ukrainian defense companies are able to produce many systems faster and cheaper than Western suppliers. Ukrainian companies are also adapting equipment more specifically to the country's ever-changing needs, while strengthening its defense industry for the future.
