Ukraine’s request for a license to manufacture Patriot missiles has revealed an unexpected problem for Washington: the concern is not so much the security of the technology as the possibility that Ukrainian engineers could improve American weapons and produce them faster and more cheaply. At the same time, this demonstrates a fundamental change in Ukraine’s status—from a demander of technology to a source of it, UNN writes.
"Ukraine May Be the Very Ally America Needs"—the influential American publication The Atlantic published an article with precisely this headline. The author, journalist and writer Michael Weiss, analyzes how the development of the defense industry is transforming Ukraine from a demander into a supplier of innovative technologies.
"Ukrainian military positions are stronger than they have been in years. The country has become more autonomous. It produces much of its own weaponry, holds back the Russian offensive, and is even retaking territory in some areas. And it has taken the war into Russia, despite having fewer soldiers and more limited resources than its enemy," the author emphasizes, referring to attacks by the Ukrainian Defense Forces on the oil-refining industry and logistics hubs of the Wildberries marketplace.
It should be recalled that, according to Bloomberg, a wave of Ukrainian strikes caused Russia’s oil-refining output to fall to its lowest level in more than 21 years, deepening the domestic fuel crisis. At the same time, as the President of Ukraine stated, Russia has lost its advantage—strategic depth. Ukraine has managed not only to turn its strikes into daily, systematic drone raids, but also to achieve an impressive flight range for its drones—thus, FP-1 attack UAVs struck the Omsk Oil Refinery, located more than 2,500 kilometers in a straight line from the Ukrainian border; taking maneuvers into account, the distance covered by the drone was considerably greater. In Russia, incidentally, they still do not believe that the drones were launched from outside its territory or that they covered part of the route using some other technological solutions besides their own capabilities.
Washington’s Dilemma
In the article in The Atlantic, discussing Ukraine’s technological and military successes, the author emphasizes that Ukraine could become a "model partner" for the United States.
"These and other achievements have made Ukraine look less like a supplicant to NATO than an invaluable source of military technology and know-how. If any country in Europe has the incentive and experience to become a key hub in America’s military supply chain, it is Ukraine. Kyiv could even be called a ‘model ally,’ if one uses the term that Elbridge Colby, the undersecretary of defense for policy, applied to Israel—despite having been an outspoken opponent of U.S. security assistance to Kyiv," the author notes.
It is emphasized that even the United States’ effective withdrawal from financing Ukraine’s defense has become less noticeable against the backdrop of Ukrainians’ development of their own technologies. And drones now play the leading role here—more than 80 percent of casualties in the Russian-Ukrainian war are caused by drones, most of which Ukraine produces itself.
"The Ukrainian drone game is so powerful that even the country’s former detractors now want to join it. One Florida-based drone development company, Powerus, is seeking Ukrainian equipment and licenses, and its ranks include two prominent investors: Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.," the author of The Atlantic article points out.
At the same time, the article emphasizes that the United States has effectively faced a dilemma: Ukrainian companies could become competitors to American arms manufacturers on the global weapons market. This became apparent against the backdrop of the refusal to grant Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot missiles.
"Raytheon and Lockheed, the manufacturers of the Patriot system, will "officially express their concerns about intellectual property theft and technology transfer," a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity — but "their real concern is that the Ukrainians will find a way to improve Patriot and then produce them on a large scale, faster and for far less money than the existing production lines in the United States could."
This demonstrates yet another feature of the development of Ukraine’s defense industry — the search for the most effective solutions at the lowest cost and the rapid scaling of production. For Ukraine, this became a forced step on the path to survival and countering the Russian threat under conditions of limited resources, but it quickly became clear that this very approach produces tangible results.