Ukraine's defence company Ukroboronprom to open offices in Turkey, Poland

He announced the plans at the 6th international conference on security governance, held by the Razumkov Center jointly with DCAF, Kyiv on Wednesday. He did not elaborate on the plans, saying that the content and potential of programs for bilateral military and technical cooperation with Ankara and Warsaw will be serious. Ukroboronprom also plans to open representative offices in Brussels and Washington, DC, Hurak said. In his words, these are medium-term plans. Currently, Ukroboronprom, which was created under a presidential order in December 2010, consists of 112 Ukrainian enterprises of the military and defense industry. Among them is Ukrspecexport with its subsidiaries. Another 21 companies are located in temporarily occupied areas in Crimea and the east of Ukraine - Donetsk and Luhansk regions. As was reported earlier, Kyiv and Ankara boosted bilateral cooperation in the military and defense sector amid the new geopolitical situation in 2014. Among the promising areas of cooperation are the manufacture of tanks and armored vehicles and aircraft engines, radars, navigation and telecoms equipment, and missile munitions. Interfax-Ukraine learnt from sources in the defense sector that Ukraine may take part in a number of Turkey's defense programs for the development of certain types of military hardware, including the creation of a Turkish fighter jet and a Turkish Altay third-generation main battle tank (MBT). Currently, Ukroboronprom and Turkish Aselsan are eyeing the possibility of establishing technological cooperation in the production of electronic and optical components. In the autumn of 2016, Ukroboronprom's state-run Ukrinmash and Turkish Havelsan Hava Elektronik Sanayi signed an agreement on joint development of communications surveillance means. In addition, Kyiv is also working on plans to boost military technical cooperation with Warsaw. Among the promising areas of the bilateral cooperation is the joint creation of new models of unmanned aerial vehicles for the Armed Forced of Ukraine, retrofitting of Polish fighters, modernization of electronic and optical components of Ukrainian armored vehicles, and the development of new air defense systems. In 2015, Poland's WB Electronics and Ukroboronprom agreed on the use of the Polish company's technology for the creation of Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In December 2016, the partners signed an agreement on cooperation in the development of new air defense systems. Currently, state-run JSHC Artem, which won a tender of the Ministry of National Defense of Poland, is engaged in the retrofitting of MiG-29 fighters of the Polish Air Force. Among other promising areas of bilateral military-technical cooperation are joint modernization of weapons shipped to third countries, as well as joint promotion of new weapons onto the EU market.