Director General of the State Concern “UkrOboronProm” Roman Romanov – who headed the Ukrainian delegation at the summit “European Defence Procurement 2017” – shared experience of Ukraine’s participation in the hybrid war. In his speech in front of European military community, he focused on solutions to ongoing conflicts.
“Ukraine has always been a peaceful country, but today its territory is a hotbed of hybrid warfare. We believe that all conflicts should be settled by political and diplomatic means only. But according to the current situation in Donbas and occupied Crimea, achieving this goal is possible only in case of parity of arms. And Ukraine will continue to concentrate its efforts on ensuring its defense capability.
At the same time, society evolution is occurring faster than the evolution of weapons. Over the past 100 years weapons have hardly changed: the same tanks, aircraft and guns, modernized though. At the same time, the concept of weapons became obsolete. Unfortunately – as well as 100 years ago – modern conflicts, such as hybrid warfare in Ukraine, still lead to huge losses among military and civilian populations.
Fundamentally new defense system will allow avoiding losses. We call to initiating of a political dialogue on changing global defense system. We see the need for formulating objectives for global defense corporations on developing new non-lethal and non-destructive means of restrain and blocking of misconducting military-minded groups and individuals. Today’s modern technology provides effective means using new conceptual principles and can implement this idea.
Ukraine and “UkrOboronProm” are ready to participate in this global research project. 130,000 young specialists receive engineering education in Ukraine every year. This is a huge scientific potential that can solve problems of any complexity, including development of non-lethal restraint systems.
We believe that each country can find a similar potential, combining efforts in close international cooperation to create new means of defense to prevent conflicts. Of course, this problem takes time, but the sooner we start moving in this direction, the sooner it is solved. We believe that the decisions made today will affect all of us tomorrow.
The systems of future must save lives! “
