Financing of Ukraine’s defense sector increased 19.5 times since 2014 – Turchynov

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov said this during a roundtable discussion on reforming of Ukraine's defense-industrial complex, the NSDC’s press service reported.

"Financing of the security and defense sector of Ukraine has increased 19,5 times over the past five years. These funds must be used with maximum efficiency, and conditions for attracting investment and innovative resources to our defense industry should be created," he said.

The issues of restructuring state-owned enterprises, optimization of their production capacities, the establishment of vertically integrated structures by production segments on the corporate basis, and the creation of a modern management system for the defense-industrial complex were considered.

In this context, Turchynov stressed that the reform of the defense-industrial complex is one of the priorities of the NSDC of Ukraine.

"The reform of the defense-industrial complex of Ukraine is taking place well underway, and there are already many steps taken in this direction - this is a gradual transition to NATO standards in the development and production of new weapons and military equipment, increased production and product quality, liberalization of foreign economic activity, implementation of direct contracts for defense ministries on the procurement of weapons abroad, etc.," the NSDC secretary noted.

At the same time, according to Turchynov, excessive secrecy and low competitiveness in implementing the state defense order affect defense procurements. "Procurement of products, works and services constituting state secret is carried out, in most cases, without the application of competitive procedures with respective consequences - the lack of the possibility of qualitative selection of the state defense order contractors," the NSDC secretary said.

"Limited access to information about measures planned under the state defense order means the lack of a fully fledged competitive environment," he added.

During the discussion with the experts, suggestions were made to resolve the problematic issues of reforming the defense-industrial complex and improving the state defense order.