"We are working to secure direct contract for procurement of PAC-3s, something that has not happened before," - Fyodorov
This was stated by Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov at a press conference with his Swedish counterpart, Paul Jonsson, according to Censor.NET, citing Interfax-Ukraine.
What is known?
The Ukrainian side is working to secure a direct contract for the procurement of anti-ballistic missiles, said Ukraine’s Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, expressing confidence that this would be achieved in the near future.
"We are currently working on securing a direct contract for the procurement of PAC-3s, something that has never happened before. And I am confident that we will succeed in doing so in the near future," he said.
Furthermore, according to Fedorov, Ukraine continues to receive missiles from the US, but there are not enough of them to fully equip the Ukrainian air defence system.
The minister added that Ukraine "has a specific plan for securing additional missiles and fighting for every single one", and that the Ukrainian side has "some unconventional solutions".
"We were just discussing this yesterday with the Swedish Minister of Defence, together with the President. We have come up with some unconventional solutions on how to go about this and how to involve other partners who have never supplied us with PAC-3 missiles before. We are working on this 24/7. Our aim is to secure more of these missiles," said Fedorov.
Contract with Germany
The Ukrainian Minister of Defence also referred to the contract with Germany concerning the PAC-2 GEM-T (Guidance Enhanced Missile-Tactical) and the PAC-3.
"Firstly, thanks to Germany, we have signed a major contract for hundreds of these missiles, with deliveries due to begin next year. But we now want to borrow these missiles, so to speak, from certain countries, with a view to returning them later," he added.
At the same time, Fyodorov noted that the work involved in sourcing missiles from European Union countries’ stockpiles is "a very difficult task".
"We simply asked each country for one, two or three missiles. And, in the end, we received a certain number – several dozen. They helped us repel Russian attacks in February and March. We are continuing this work. But, of course, we plan to receive more missiles, as we will have direct contracts," he explained.
Ukraine is therefore trying to procure as many PAC-2 and PAC-3 systems as possible from surplus stocks, as well as to develop its own anti-ballistic missile system.
"I cannot disclose the details or specific figures, so as not to give our enemy any additional information. But I will say this: it is a very difficult process, with our President fully involved, and he is also taking specific steps every day to ensure we have additional missiles," Fyodorov concluded.
