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Oleksiy Honcharuk highlights Ukraine's defense industry growth and the shift toward unmanned ground vehicles

Ukraine's defense industry has expanded its annual production capacity from $1 billion to $50 billion since 2022. The sector is now a global hub for defense technology, with the Defense Ministry reporting that 95 percent of drones procured for Ukrainian forces are now domestically produced. Oleksiy Honcharuk, co-founder and chairman of UFORCE, stated that Ukraine's superpower is its need to innovate rapidly to solve battlefield problems. He noted that while Ukraine lacks the same heavy aviation bombers as Russia, it has developed asymmetric capabilities like maritime drones and heavy bombers such as the Nemesis drone. The administration announced that ground drones have conducted more than 50,000 logistics and evacuation missions during the year. These unmanned ground vehicles are being deployed to reduce soldier exposure on the battlefield. Brigadier General Andrii Biletskyi stated that his corps aims to replace roughly one-third of its frontline troops with unmanned systems by the end of the year. While Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall, characterized some Ukrainian drone developments as 'playing with Lego' and compared Ukrainian manufacturers to 'housewives' with 3D printers, the practical effectiveness of the drones remains evident in the battlefield results.

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