Ukraine war 'unbeatable testing ground for world's weapons industry'

The Ukraine invasion has become ‘an unbeatable testing ground for the world’s weapons industry’, Kyiv’s defence minister says, with manufacturers benefiting from real combat data

• The war in Ukraine is the first time Nato weaponry has been used on a large scale
• While it is teaching west lessons, experts also warn that Russia is taking notes 

The invasion of Ukraine is providing the West with an unparalleled opportunity to see how effective its military hardware is in a full-scale war, the Ukrainian defence minister has said.

Western allies have donated billions of dollars-worth of stockpiled weapons to Ukraine since Russia invaded last year, with Kyiv putting British-donated missiles and German tanks to good use in its ongoing counteroffensive.

The fight against Vladimir Putin’s forces is the first time Nato weaponry has been used on a large scale. Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said the war is allowing those supporting his country to ‘actually see if their weapons work, how efficiently they work and if they need to be upgraded’.

‘For the military industry of the world, you can’t invent a better testing ground,’ he added. Contractors have confirmed that feedback from Ukrainian soldiers has helped their engineers to improve equipment.

But, military analysts have also warned that the Russians, as well as China and other potentially hostile states, will have been watching how Western weapons work and will undoubtedly be taking notes.

Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said the war is allowing those supporting Ukraine to ‘actually see if their weapons work’

Among the western military hardware being utilised by Ukraine is German Leopard 2 tanks

Amid the dramatic arms race surrounding the war, Russia is also learning from its military failings and adapting, an expert who spoke to the FT noted.

‘It’s not just the Ukrainians who are learning how to fight a modern, high-intensity war. The Russians are as well,’ a western defence adviser told the paper.

They warned that there is a risk the West could be ‘left behind’ unless it takes on lessons about battlefield tactics ‘with some urgency.’

Reznikov gave one example of Russian innovation and how Ukraine is helping its allies to learn from it, pointing to how the ‘highly accurate’ US-donated HIMARS rocket system is being countered by Russia’s powerful electronic jamming devices.

‘The Russians come up with a countermeasure, we inform our partners and they make a new countermeasure against this countermeasure,’ Reznikov explained.  

Britain has sent its most potent non-nuclear missile, the Storm Shadow, to support the country’s resistance against Vladimir Putin’s invasion

READ MORE: British Challenger Two tanks are seen on the Ukrainian front line for the first time

While Western artillery systems have been praised as being leagues ahead of their Soviet-era counterparts in many respects, they have also displayed their limitations during the unremitting war.

Arms consultant Petro Pyatakov confirmed that there was an ‘active interest from western artillery manufacturers in receiving feedback from Ukrainian gunners… to eliminate shortcomings’. 

Ukraine, which hopes to demonstrate it is a ‘de facto Nato member’, has also adopted the bloc’s Logfas database, which allows information to be shared on what hardware needs replacing and what is operational. 

Among the western military hardware being utilised by Ukraine is German Leopard 2 tanks, and British-donated Challenger 2s – both of which have been spotted on the front line.

The £5million Challenger 2 tank is designed to attack other tanks and have far greater ranges and accuracy than the Kremlin’s equivalent. 

A Ukrainian serviceman fires an NLAW anti-tank weapon during an exercise in the Joint Forces Operation, in the Donetsk region

A squadron of 14 Challenger 2 tanks, which have a 120mm rifled gun and a 7.62mm machine gun, were gifted by Britain earlier this year.

In May, the UK became the first country to provide Ukraine with missiles that have a range long enough to strike anywhere in the country when it donated Storm Shadow missiles. 

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed the use of the deep-strike missiles, which have a range of 250km, in the same month.

Meanwhile, it was reported in May that the US has so far sent weapons valued at about $21.1bn to from its stockpiles, including HIMARS launchers, Javelin anti-tank weapons and a surface-to-air missile system.

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