Poroshenko orders production of anti-aircraft missile launcher

Ukrainian President Poroshenko has ordered Ukraine’s
defense industry to launch production of the Vilkha high-precision
anti-aircraft missile launcher series this year, he announced on his Facebook
page on Apr. 25 after visiting a weapons test site. Vilkhas are assembled
entirely of Ukrainian parts, he noted, and they are 10 times more precise than
the anti-aircraft systems that Ukraine inherited from the Soviet military.
Poroshenko said he also ordered Ukraine’s defense industry to boost cruise
missile production.

Zenon Zawada: It has
puzzled even top U.S. defense officials (such as retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ben
Hodges) why Ukraine hasn’t shifted at least some of its massive efforts in arms
exporting towards satisfying its own defense needs by producing weapons that
are tailored for resisting the current Russian military aggression. It has also
puzzled them why Ukraine claims it needs U.S. armaments because they are more
modern, rather than updating their own extensive weapons-making capacities to
produce the high-tech arms that it needs.

After four years of Russian military aggression
however, President Poroshenko has finally begun to address these concerns with
these instructions, which should boost not only Ukrainian defenses but also
economic activity. Given that we expect Russian military aggression to continue
for at least another two years, we expect the president will be giving more
such tasks to Ukraine’s arms producers.