\n<\/p>\n
Ukraine’s industry is growing rapidly amid Russia’s invasion, and Ukraine is relying less on allies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
But the industry says it has far more capacity that’s unused as Ukraine can’t spend that much.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
Industry leaders say there’s a simple way that Ukraine’s potential can be reached.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Ukraine’s defense industry says it is prepared to produce much more weaponry<\/a> than it is currently making. The problem is that the Ukrainian government can’t afford the multi-billion-dollar price tag for production.<\/p>\n But it says there’s a straightforward solution.<\/p>\n Ukraine’s defense industry has boomed<\/a> since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine<\/a>, with manufacturers ranging from huge outfits to small companies based in people’s garages. These companies are crucial, especially at times when Western support<\/a> is uncertain.<\/p>\n The host of defense companies<\/a> that have sprung up over the last three years of war has allowed Ukraine to innovate quickly and make weaponry that is well suited<\/a> to the country’s specific fight, and their insights into the demands of modern war have many Western companies keen to collaborate and learn from them.<\/p>\n Ukrainian Minister of Strategic Industries Herman Smetanin shared earlier this year that “the capabilities of the Ukrainian defense industry have grown 35 times over the three years of the invasion,” up from $1 billion in 2022 to $35 billion now.<\/p>\n Industry bodies, each representing around 100 Ukrainian defense companies, told Business Insider that the country’s industry is ready to make far more weaponry if someone can fund it, and said it would be a win-win for allies.<\/p>\n Serhiy Goncharov, the CEO of the National Association of Ukrainian Defense Industries, which represents around 100 Ukrainian companies, told BI that Ukrainian producers’ capacity is more than three times as large as their purchasing power from current budgets.<\/p>\n He said Ukrainian defense companies get contracts worth around $11.5 billion, but they have the capacity to make as much as $45 billion in weapons.<\/p>\n “We are ready to increase our production. We have the capacity to increase our production,” Goncharov said. But for now, “we still work in the limit of the budget of Ukraine.”<\/p>\nUkraine can make much more with more funding<\/h2>\n