Ukraine’s military is gearing up for a positive, busy year. In December, Parliament and the president OKed sending more air and ground forces to join UN peacekeepers in the Congo, according to KyivWeekly. This is a win-win situation. The UN gets personnel for non-prestigious “stabilizing” operations. Ukraine gets bragging rights and cash. And the personnel get to see action and travel, KW by Peter Duchyn op-ed article reads.
The state-run Antonov plant has built up a Five Star reputation in large aircraft design and construction since its inception in the 1940s. Its products have been in demand from the Middle East to Africa to South America to former USSR states. They are much cheaper and adaptable to extreme conditions, reliable, and no-frills easy to use – all attractive point for emerging states or old ones battling rebels.
This contract was years in the making with negotiations and signing dragging on, then construction and shipment only taking place now. While spheres politics and economics ride the rough waves of dim-witted decisions and untimely faux pas, the military have to bear in mind long-term arrangements. Therefore, blunders are simply not tolerated, nor are hot-headed leaders. Ukraine’s military and state coffers stand to benefit from global military changes - peacekeeping, the withdrawal of Western militaries from some regions and revolutions in the Arab world.
But success depends on foresight by military leaders, non-interference of politicians and a steady approach. Oddly enough, Ukraine’s military is doing what politicians cannot – filling the coffers and offering the rest of the world the best of its products and people, the article concludes.
