Ukraine Offers Its Frontline To Become A Test Place For Foreign Weapons

Ukrainian Military/PHOTO via Instagram @uaf_general_staff

JAKARTA - The Kyiv state-backed arms investment and procurement group Brave1 said Ukraine would allow foreign weapons companies to test their latest weapons on the front lines of the war against the Russian invasion.

In the "Trial in Ukraine" scheme, the company will send their products to Ukraine, provide online training on how to use them, then wait for Ukrainian troops to try them and send a report, the group said in a statement.

"This gives us an understanding of what technology is available. It gives the company an understanding of what actually works at the forefront," Artem Moroz, head of Brave1 investor relations, told Reuters in Germany, Friday, July 18.

Moroz said there was a strong interest in the scheme, but did not specify which company had signed to use it.

Moroz also declined to elaborate on how the scheme would operate or how much it would cost if any.

More than three years after their invasion of Ukraine, Russian troops launched a massive offensive on the frontline that stretches more than 1,000 km (620 miles) and intensified airstrikes in Ukrainian cities.

Ukraine relies on the growing defense industry, which is partly driven by foreign investment, to fend off larger and more sophisticated Russian war engines.

Brave1 - which was founded by the government in 2023 with an online center where Ukrainian defense companies can seek investment, and also where Ukrainian military units can order weapons - has compiled a list of military technologies to test.

"We have a priority list. One of the top is air defenses, such as new air defense capabilities, drone interceptors, AI-guided systems, all solutions against glide bombs," he said.

The drone system in water and the ground electronic profile system are also included in Ukraine's priority list, as are the advanced firing control system or AI guidance to make howitzers more accurate.