Ukraine's brand new Vilkha-M MLRS finds its first export customers

According to Defense Express, in Ukraine, the Vilkha-M has continued through the Official Qualification Trials (OQT) process that is potentially leading up to Approval for Service Use.

"First export contracts for the MLRS Vilkha-M upgrade are there and signed," Luch has reported on its official Facebook account.

Interestingly, in this context, the Vilkha-M has been able to find its initial export customers even before it completes its ongoing OQT program and is officially adopted by the Ukrainian military, the report said.

The announcement came amid official reports that announced numerous extensions of the time frame for completion of the OQT program for the "Vilkha-M MLR launcher and the 300-mm missile R624M."

As at the start of last year, there was talk about Q2 2020, then this deadline was postponed till the end of 2020, and, finally, Approval for Service Use was preliminarily scheduled for some day in Q1 2021.

Currently available information reveals that the Vilkha-M was latest test launched on March 22-23 from Ali Bay testing range, outside of Odesa.

The latest test launches were most likely carried out with the R624M Vilkha-M missile, but there has been no official information published on whether the test launches were successful.

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