Northrop planning to build munitions inside Ukraine

Northrop’s coproduction agreement is the first publicly acknowledged deal between a US defense prime and…

Breaking Defense

Northrop’s coproduction agreement is the first publicly acknowledged deal between a US defense prime and the Ukrainian government for a manufacturing project inside Ukraine.

EUROSATORY 2024 — Northrop Grumman plans to produce medium caliber ammunition inside Ukraine under a project bankrolled by Ukrainian dollars, a company official said today.

Although several European defense firms have committed to large-scale manufacturing programs inside Ukraine’s borders, Northrop’s coproduction agreement is the first publicly acknowledged deal between a US defense prime and the Ukrainian government for a manufacturing project inside Ukraine.

“We’ve been working, as you know, in Ukraine to produce medium [caliber munitions]. That’s our first project that’s paid for with Ukrainian dollars. We are looking to expand that into tank ammo, 155 mm, others as we find innovative processes,” said Dave Bartell, director of international business for Northrop’s defense systems sector.

The acknowledgment of the agreement occurred during an exchange between Bartell and Stanley Brown, the State Department’s principal deputy assistant secretary for the bureau of political-military affairs, during Brown’s speech at the Eurosatory arms show in Paris.

Bartell did not elaborate on the coproduction plan, and Northrop declined to comment for this story.

In his remarks, Brown highlighted the State Department’s new Ukraine Defense Enterprise Program, which invests $2 billion in Ukraine’s defense industrial base and could open the door to US-Ukrainian coproduction…