Ukraine may become world's sixth biggest arms trader

The output of Ukrainian defense plants grew by 58% in 2009, which would unable Ukraine to rank as the world's sixth largest arms trader, the Ukrainian Industrial Policy Ministry's Defense Sector Agency said.

The largest growth was reported by aircraft builders (77%), shipbuilders (71%) and producers of armaments and military hardware (16%).

Ukraine signed a record number of large contracts last year, representatives of the Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies Center said in an interview published by the Saturday issue of the Tyzhnia (Mirror Weekly) newspaper.

"The portfolio of orders of Ukrspetsexport and subsidiaries ensures a substantial growth of annual arms exports for the next two or three years. There are contracts to modernize Antonov An-32 military cargo planes for India [with the cost exceeding $400 million], to deliver a batch of Zubr small air-cushion landing ships to China [$315 million], to supply six Antonov An-32 [about $100 million) and 420 BTR-4 armored personnel carriers to Iraq, and to bring a large number of armored personnel carriers to Thailand," the experts said.

"There are large deliveries of Zorya Mashproyekt gas-turbines to the Indian Navy [for Russian-made frigates and national destroyers of Projects R15A and R15B supplied earlier] and the delivery of 100 AI-20 5 engines to the Indian Air Force [about $110 million]," the experts said.

The contracts upgraded the Ukrainian position. It may become the world's sixth biggest arms seller after the United States, Russia, France, Germany and Israel.