In the midst of war, Ukraine is also building its own weapons

Ukrainian arms production is not on the scale of Russian weapons factories, but it does exist. The use of artificial intelligence is particularly important for Commander-in-Chief Salushnyi.

The long defensive war against Russia is difficult for Ukraine for many reasons - especially at a time when Western support no longer seems as secure as before. While Russian missiles and drones can strike anywhere in Ukraine at any time, Russian territory is hardly affected by the war. The Kremlin has long been running its factories behind the Urals in three-shift operation.

Even if it is clear that Ukraine is not in a position to fully supply itself with weapons and ammunition without outside help, there are still production facilities in the attacked country. In a difficult economic situation, Ukraine has achieved respectable successes, particularly in the areas of comparatively inexpensive artillery, air defense and artificial intelligence.

The most important success story is that of the self-developed Bohdana wheeled howitzer, which played an important role in the liberation of Snake Island in the Black Sea in the summer of 2022 together with the French Caesar howitzer. At the time, Ukraine only had a single Bohdana at its disposal, a prototype. The fact that this example had survived was something of a miracle. The wheeled howitzer was originally developed by a factory in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk district, where it was kept until shortly before the Russian invasion. As the large-scale invasion became increasingly imminent, the general staff in Kiev initially ordered the destruction of the Bohdana, as the technology should not fall into the hands of the Russians. However, the howitzer was dismantled, taken to the hinterland, reassembled and put into service with the Ukrainian army.

Ukraine now produces six Bohdanas per month

After Bohdana proved its worth in the battles for Snake Island, the Ministry of Defense in Kiev commissioned series production. Today, six wheeled howitzers are produced per month, a similar rate to the Caesar in France. There are currently already more than 30 Bohdanas. Although many details of production are secret for security reasons, it is known that production is organized decentrally in order to minimize the impact of Russian air attacks. Some parts of the Bohdana are produced abroad, but much is also produced at home in Ukraine. A total of 25 companies and around 400 people are involved in the production of the "mini-Caesar", as Bohdana is sometimes called.

The comparison is obvious. Obviously, Bohdana, which was not actually ready before 24 February 2022 and will be optimized and modernized during the war, cannot quite keep up with Caesar. However, while the price of a Caesar howitzer is around five million US dollars, a Bohdana only costs half that amount. What's more, Ukraine does not have to queue up internationally for it. The wheeled howitzer does not have to be brought to Poland for major repairs, and Ukrainian artillerymen do not need any new training to operate it: Bohdana shoots with NATO 155 mm caliber, but can be used immediately by soldiers trained on Soviet equipment. And because Bohdana definitely proved to be good enough on the battlefield, it is quite possible that it will soon become the main artillery piece of the Ukrainian army - and possibly an important export product in the post-war period. Countries such as Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia had already shown interest in the weapon before the war.

The lack of ammunition remains a problem

However, Bohdana cannot fire without ammunition. Soviet-caliber ammunition is produced in Ukraine and the surrounding EU countries - but that doesn't help for this howitzer. The West has so far failed to supply enough ammunition. As a result, the EU cannot keep its promise to supply one million rounds of artillery ammunition by March 2024. There are shortages on both sides of the front line. This makes the use of so-called first-person view drones, which were initially used by Ukraine and are now also being used by the Russians, all the more important.

FPV drones, which were originally used by hobbyists and can only fly a few kilometers, are considered a kind of minimalist artillery replacement. According to estimates by the Ukrainian online newspaper "Ukrajniska Pravda", Ukraine is already capable of producing around 500,000 such drones per year. The target of one million FPV drones by 2024 mentioned by President Volodymyr Zelensky at his recent press conference is likely to be realistic. However, Russia is also working at full speed in this area, so this is also a neck-and-neck race.

In addition to in-house production, Ukraine relies heavily on joint productions as well as creative and unexpected solutions. This also became clear in early December at the forum of the Ukrainian and US defense industries on the other side of the Atlantic. There have been successes above all in the area of air defense, specifically in the adaptation of Western missiles to Soviet systems, for which Ukraine no longer receives missiles. For example, the Ukrainian idea of using Sea Sparrow missiles for the Soviet BUK-M1 system has already been implemented - the Sea Sparrow is actually a ship-based air defense system. There are also said to be similar plans for the widely used S-300 systems.

Salushnyj relies on AI

Another particularly important topic for army commander Valery Salushnyi is the use of artificial intelligence. In his article published in the "Economist" in the fall, he reiterated the need for a technological leap in order to prevent the dangerous impasse of a protracted war against Russia. According to the British magazine, Salushnyj discusses these issues with many people, including Eric Schmidt, ex-CEO of Google. The use of AI systems by the Ukrainian army is still in the early stages. However, there are already weapons on the front line that operate with the help of machine learning systems.

Until then, the "Griselda" system appears to be the most important development, using AI to gather information, process it quickly and give the troops on the ground a clear picture of the situation. Griselda is capable of collecting and processing thousands of messages from drones, satellites, media and social networks. The system currently detects more than 25,000 targets per month and can provide the army with information about the enemy in less than 30 seconds. The information reaches Ukrainian gunners and tank crews via a specially developed app.

The "Saker Scout" drone formation, which is equipped with a machine learning system, can recognize and attack more than 60 target types in areas where other drones are powerless due to the Russians' electronic warfare. The system consists of a reconnaissance drone and several FPV drones, which then shoot at the enemy. Another exciting feature is the remote-controlled TGG rotating ring gun, which identifies targets and makes all the calculations itself. All the user has to do is point the gun carriage at the target and press the button.

Of course, the "technological leap" mentioned by Salushnyj has not yet been achieved. However, when the army commander appeared before the Ukrainian media at his own press conference on Tuesday, he raised hopes for some surprises next year. "2024 will not only be different. It has to be different from 2023, which I also wrote about in the article," said the general, who is extremely popular in Ukraine. "We have identified problems and found about 90 percent of the solutions for those that absolutely must be solved in order to be able to act more effectively next year and, above all, save people."