Photo from UNIAN
Design and development works are underway on a number of other defense projects.
Ukraine is starting serial production of Vilkha [Alder] artillery rocket systems, according to Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak.
“We are already starting mass production of the Vilkha ARS. Design and development works are underway on a number of other projects that will significantly enhance our capabilities,” the minister said in an interview with the Uryadovyi Kurier government gazette.
According to the top defense official, in December 2018, Ukrainian Army received additional resources in the amount of UAH 4 billion, which was used to procure new types of military equipment, including the Vilkha ARS.
As UNIAN reported earlier, in August 2016, the Ukrainian military conducted successful tests of a new generation Vilkha ARS, which was designed based on a Soviet-era 300 mm Smerch 9K58 launcher. The major developer is Luch State Design Bureau. In December 2016, the Cabinet of Ministers increased the prepayment period for the implementation of the project to two years.
In the spring of 2018, Vilkha ARS successfully passed the state tests in the south of Odesa region, after which Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko set the task to start its mass production in 2018.
The ARS developed by designers from Kyiv's Luch State Design Bureau was fully made from Ukrainian components, Ukroboronprom boasted in its report released late December.