U.S. arms giant Northrop Grumman has announced it will manufacture “medium caliber” ammunition at a production facility inside Ukraine, making it the first American defense company to make such plans public.
The announcement was made by Northrop Grumman Defense System’s director of international business, Dave Bartell, at the Eurostatory defense fair in Paris on Monday. He added that the production line would be paid for by Ukrainian defense funds, according to media reports.A U.S. State Department official also at the arms show confirmed that the American government expected the plans to move forward and said financing for the project may benefit from a $2-billion assistance program for Ukraine funded by Washington.
Bartell said Northrop Grumman intended to enhance its existing product range with tank ammunition and 155-mm artillery shells. The executive’s comments did not reveal which systems used by the Ukrainian armed forces the new production would cater for.
Northrop Grumman’s entry to the Ukrainian market takes place amid the firm’s growing presence in Poland, where its main project is the Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS), an air-defense command and control system combining satellite and radar data to provide early warning of incoming threats.
IBCS forms an integral part of Poland’s Wisła and Narew air-defense programs and a corporate statement on June 17 said the first IBCS had been deployed in the country.
