EU to provide €343m in guarantees and grants for Ukraine's defence sector
The European Commission, Ukraine's Ministry of Defence, and the governments of France and Finland have agreed to provide €343 million in EU guarantees and blended finance grants to support the development of Ukraine's defence sector. The funding will be channelled to expand industrial capacity for defence production and dual-use technologies.
Source: Ukraine's Ministry of Defence
Details: The agreements were signed in Gdańsk during the Ukraine Recovery Conference.
Quote: "The new instruments are expected to enable the mobilisation of more than €700 million in investment in the production of unmanned aerial vehicles and counter-drone systems, ground robotic systems, military aviation, advanced navigation and communications technologies and other strategic sectors."
Details: The financing will be provided under the second component of the Ukraine Facility. The Ministry of Defence explained that this component includes the Investment Framework for Ukraine, which is designed to attract public and private investment. The budget of the second component stands at €9.5 billion, including €7.8 billion in guarantees and €1.7 billion in blended finance grants.
"It is important that the investments cover not individual products, but the holistic technological framework of modern defence," Hanna Hvozdiаr, an adviser to Ukraine's defence minister, is quoted as saying.
The agreements also included a memorandum between Ukrainian UAV manufacturer SkyFall and Polish state bank Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego on financing investments to expand the company's production capacity.
"Financing under the second component of the Ukraine Facility will help Skyfall meet growing demand and support the company's integration into the European industrial and technological base," the Ministry of Defence explained.
Background: During the Ukraine Recovery Conference, Ukrainian companies signed a number of agreements with European weapons manufacturers. Roboneers will set up a joint venture with Germany's ARX Robotics. Ukrainian radio developer Himera signed a cooperation agreement with Finland's Bittium.
TAF Industries and Polish defence group PGZ signed a memorandum of intent on industrial cooperation in the field of drones and counter-drone systems. Ivchenko-Progress, Polish defence company PZL Defence and its parent group Unimot S.A. signed a memorandum of cooperation on the development of small turbojet engines.
In addition, DevDroid signed a memorandum of understanding with Norway's Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace.
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