Kyiv [Ukraine], July 19: Brave1 - Ukraine's state-owned arms investment and procurement corporation - is inviting foreign companies to test their latest weapons on the front line to benefit both the country and its manufacturers.
Reuters on July 18 quoted an announcement from Ukraine 's Brave1 arms investment and procurement group saying that Ukraine will let foreign arms companies test new weapons on the front line in the conflict with Russia.
Under the "Test in Ukraine" program, companies will send their products to Ukraine, provide some online training on how to use them, then wait for Ukrainian forces to test them and send back a report, according to the corporation's statement.
"It helps us understand what technologies are available and helps companies understand what really works on the front lines," Artem Moroz, Brave1's head of investor relations, told Reuters at a defense conference in Wiesbaden, Germany.
The program has attracted a lot of interest, he said, but he did not name any companies that have signed up, declining to provide further details about how it works or whether there are any costs involved.
More than three years after launching a military campaign in Ukraine, Russian forces are still pressing an offensive of attrition along a frontline of more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) and increasing air strikes against Ukrainian cities.
Ukraine is relying on a fledgling defense industry, fueled in part by foreign investment, to counter Russia.
Brave1 is a corporation founded by the Ukrainian government in 2023 with a domestic online platform where defense companies can seek investment and military units can order weapons.
Mr. Moroz added that the corporation has drawn up a list of military technologies it wants to test.
"We have a list of priorities. Among them is air defense, such as new air defense capabilities, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) interceptors, artificial intelligence (AI) guidance systems, all solutions to deal with glide bombs," he gave examples.
Unmanned boats and field electronic documentation systems are also on Ukraine 's priority list , along with advanced fire control systems or AI-guided technology to increase artillery accuracy.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper