This week, and in fact, we will find out who will be the guest of the studio this sunday. Undoubtedly, the topics will be relevant, the guests will be special. Proper names with myroslava barchuk. Sunday, 17 10 at espresso. We continue our war and weapons program. It is aimed at reviewing the Technological Solutions used by our military battlefield in the first part, we talked about how the military themselves see such models, why they need them, and now we will talk with. Companies, representatives of companies, with industrialists who create such models, because actually now, if we are there we read the message of the minister of technology, there are no numbers, then formally everything is fine with us, the number of drones is increasing, Profit Margins are increasing, the potential of the company is expanding, but in any case, all the same, the manufacturers have a number of basic questions for our customers, there are a number proposals and now we are joined by kateryna mikhalko, she is the executive director of the Technological Forces of ukraine association. Mr. Kateryn, mrs. Kateryna, i congratulate you, glad to see and hear. Good afternoon, thank you very much for the invitation. On the website of your association, the Technological Forces of ukraine, there is written the phrase that i already used in a conversation with the military, about the fact that we must fight with robots, but not with people. And precisely due to the use of technology. Your association strives to preserve the life and health of as many ukrainians as possible. I would like you to be a little more told our viewers in detail what was the purpose of creating the association of Technological Forces of ukraine. When it was created, which enterprises are part of it, and what is the goal it sets for itself. Ugh. Absolutely right, you said that the latest technology today, it helps, first of all. To bring our victory closer, to give an advantage on the front line, and it is also important that they help save and preserve the lives of our military, because part of the operations that are performed by people can be performed effectively by drones today, but it is important it is efficient and predictable for the state to purchase these drones and to ensure that Ukrainian Companies stay here, do not go abroad and only build up their capabilities, for this. The Technological Forces of ukraine appeared, we help with our analytics, state authorities to shape their policies there in such a way that the conditions for conducting defense business in ukraine are more comfortable. And how Many Enterprises are now part of your association, what is the specialization of these enterprises, do they participate in execution of the state defense order, what about the members of your association . Union now . Has more than 20 enterprises, some of them have been supplying weapons to the front line since the 14th year, some of them appeared recently, all of them are united by one idea, which is the application of the latest technologies on the front line, that is, every product that is manufactured by these enterprises, ee has some kind of innovation inside, that is, whether the software is unique, or the use of artificial intelligence, or some specific developments that apply specifically to the hulls. And hardware as a component, but all of these are the latest models of weapons. And i know that you conducted a survey among the enterprises that are part of your association, where you sought to identify the most problematic or bottlenecks in the development of the enterprises themselves, their cooperation with customers, and you described it as such a certain pyramid of industry pains. So i would like to hear from you what our people are suffering from now. Producers, what worries them most, what systemically worries them, what needs to be changed . The first and most important thing is the predictability of the order, because at the moment. Already the month of march and some of the companies that manufacture weapons , drones, which have already proven their effectiveness on the front line, are still not contracted, and this is an absolute disaster for the private sector, because in order to exist this production, to support its teams, of course you need to have working capital, it is currently is a big challenge, because some enterprises simply do not understand when they receive contracts and whether they receive them at all. It is very important for the state to plan the purchase of weapons for 23 years. Currently, there is a maximum of planning, which receives the private sector its 62 months, it shouldnt be like that. The second thing i would say is localization. It is very important that we have preferences for local arms manufacturers, because for the last 30 years, the rules of the game were such that all preferences were given to imported zemstvo weapons, that is , it is more profitable and more comfortable to manufacture them abroad. It should not be like this, there should be an advantage for ukrainian manufacturers. And thirdly, let me say that it is important to integrate the ukrainian market into the world market, so if some manufacturers do not receive orders from ukraine as states, then it is important to allow exports so that they can transfer their technological samples of weapons to our friendly countries, partner states and thus bring currency to the country, and about these problems, i think you talked with representatives of the ministry of digital, the minister of technology and industry. Er, the ministry of defense, what is the reaction to the fact that these moments, which are painful and difficult for manufacturers , must be somehow, well, regulated, is there any positive feedback from our officials . In fact, i am very grateful to the government for what they hear is the industry, and already a lot of deregulation has happened in the last two years, and that is, the rules of the market cannot be compared to what they were before. That is, there is a positive ee direction of activity and lawmaking in the government and in the parliament as well, but simply the volume of problems is so large, and we have not had a reform of this industry for so long that, of course, it takes some time. You talked about the fact that it is necessary to seek the export of products, if they are not completely bought by the ministry of defense or other power structures. Because. There is such a political moment here that , conditionally speaking, how can we export when we ask our partners to supply and sell us weapons, how can we bypass this trap, which is ideologically created around this issue . Uhu, i would like to say a few important things on this topic firstly, exports do not reduce the amount of weapons that Ukrainian Companies can produce, on the contrary, they increase this amount. Because when Companies Receive inflows of additional capital, they can build up their capabilities, therefore exporting products abroad does not reduce the amount of weapons that ukraine will have inside. The second thing i would say is that , for example, in such fields as the production of drones, we have made a lot of progress, we have many different models and objectively not all of them are needed by our army, because they have different functions, or ukraine does not always has enough funds to buy all lots. Ago. It would be expedient to allow this surplus production to be exported, there are other categories of technologies in which ukraine does not have such a large capacity to manufacture them, and it is usually for them that our western partners are asked to provide us with technical assistance, but it depends very much on the category, technology and type of product, and returning to the issue that you raised in the list of pain points about what i am saying linguistically. Do local or local producers feel in worse conditions than foreign suppliers, this concerns the determination of the price, the conditions of purchase, what are the peculiarities here established for our manufacturer and supplier of foreignmade products, well, for imported suppliers do not apply, for example, the limitation of the cost of products, that is, they simply submit their price offer. And if ukraine needs these weapons, we buy them. For ukrainian manufacturers, this is cost regulation, it is very rigid and uncomfortable. And this, this amount there, the profit that the companies get, is not enough to make reinvestment in the latest technology. So thats where the biggest pain point is that import suppliers have a lot more resources to invest in the latest developments, these resources later. Another aspect that is more difficult for us to influence than for the state is the fact that ukrainian manufacturers are under fire, and they are very often a target for the russians, and that is. This imposes certain security risks, of course , on the teams that make the weapons, and it would be nice if the state helped, for example, with underground facilities and somehow made additional subsidies so that these underground facilities could be used, as a production, also i b noted the persecution of power structures that happen because of the fact that legislation in ukraine is not always unambiguous, for local business there is a risk of later. These persecutions, which are not always expedient, of course, when we are talking about arms importers to ukraine, for them there is no such risk, no ambiguity of ukrainian legislation. Well, that is, in fact, it can be argued that such a reality, well, relatively speaking, even pushes our National Manufacturers to leave ukraine and create enterprises outside of ukraine, under other brands or under their own brands, but to withdraw from these national difficulties. Which relatively speaking, well, significantly complicate the production of defense products, such trends, but among your enterprises, there are those who want to go abroad and create an enterprise there . Unfortunately, such discussions exist, and i would very much like to emphasize to the state authorities that if we do not have preferences for the ukrainian manufacturer, if the orders are not predictable, if the export of surplus products is not opened, there is a great risk that a large number of enterprises, if they do not leave completely, then at least they will think about opening subsidiaries abroad, in ukraine, as a state, we do not need it at all for this to happen, it is very important to preserve this defenseindustrial complex, which we have at such an incredible price in ukraine was finally built, and therefore these three points that i have listed, they are key to ensuring that enterprises will remain in ukraine. And pay taxes here and, of course, supply weapons directly to our army. Mrs. Kateryna, i will ask again about the association itself, because linguistically speaking, we mentioned the purpose of this association, but we still did not name the companies, i think it is still worth reminding our viewers that among the participants of your association there are enterprises that have been engaged in the production of military products for more than 10 or even more years, in particular ukspetssystem. Skyeton, athlon avia, deviro, that is, those companies that have serial samples that have already been tested by war, that have such highly professional teams, bought the equipment, and actually they are the Top Enterprises of the Ukrainian Defense industry, and when you talk about the pain of enterprises, it actually means that the largest and most stable, most powerful manufacturers suffer from the problems that you told our viewers about, so it turns out. Yes, everything is correct. Moreover, i will say that by the 22nd year, they were actively exporting their products to the international market, so it can be said that these products are competitive on the world stage in western countries. And also some of the developments made by these companies, for example, the drone shark, which i think many ukrainians know, it was developed with the companys own working capital during a big war, at the risk of shelling, with all these legislative blockers that exist, so. The industry very often creates the latest models of weapons , which give us an advantage on the front line, in spite of, if not because of, the circumstances we have. Ms. Kateryna, but where now are Companies Taking funds for their first of all new developments, because on the one hand we know that part of the projects you mentioned were collected for volunteer money, part of it was the funds of the companies themselves. The government is talking about the fact that they raised the profit rate there by 25 , and this is quite. Enough to conduct rnd in Certain Companies there, but what is actually happening with the finances to create new Solutions Among the leading Defense Industrial companies . This is a big problem, there is a shortage of working capital at all large leading enterprises, and it is difficult to find funds for the latest developments, to be honest, we are grateful to the foundations for the fact that they purchase weapons, it helps a lot in moments of unpredictability government orders. Funds Save Companies and make these purchases, er, you mentioned a profit of 25 there, i want to emphasize that this is ee this 25 , they do not take into account the development of the latest e samples of weapons, that is, the rnd process. That is, in no way is the development of the latest types of weapons, it is not financed by the state, and this is in principle true from one point of view, that the companies themselves really have to invest in it , but simply in the absence of all others. Conditions that i listed earlier, i. E. The predictability of orders, exports, these working capital is constantly insufficient, so companies here come up with different ways, sometimes take investments. Sometimes they try to find loans, but none of these ways are clear and easy. You mentioned loans, at a certain stage there was an initiative that loans for Defense Enterprises should have , so to speak, a zero or minimum interest rate, but this was talked about and forgotten, that is, i understand that now loans are still too burdensome to calculate this well, to create new projects, because. Defense companies dont have much opportunity to give any guarantees to the banks , that is, what should these guarantees be under, if, for example, their production capacities are a target for russian missiles, and it is clear that the banks see this as a great risk, and they are, after all, arms manufacturers, which are for banks, this is an additional, additional excuse to check these companies in more detail, therefore, some special lending programs that were worked on by the state. Levels, they would really be useful to this sector, because currently there are no such programs. And one more the component is the development of the professional composition of creative collectives, production collectives. How about it in your enterprises, because when you talk to individual directors, everyone says that it is actually, well, that is the essence of the problem, to find designers, to find technologists, to find, well, guys or girls who can do it right there. These or other things, these are, well, as they say, essential problems, should the state help here, or should some mechanisms be created there, so that this component related to training personnel to decide somehow systematically, so i would definitely emphasize two directions here, this is the first training, that is, we have specialized universities that could now focus on the latest technologies specifically for the military sphere, it would be very useful, including the question. Military training, how to use the latest weapons, including drones. The second important question is how private companies can protect these talented employees whom they find, because the question of reservation is critical, because now it is actively a mobilization company, and often these employees, who have very specific knowledge that is difficult to replace, are mobilized to. The army, but it is important to keep these companies and give reservations to the defenseindustrial complex, because it still ensures our technical advantage on the line front, and it is important that these people remain in enterprises, continue to make ammunition, drones and develop the latest technologies that give a significant advantage on the front line. Panikaterina, and extreme questions, what main goal is yours trying to achieve unification, well, by the end of this year, what is the most. More priority and important for all enterprises that are united in your structure . We are building a market economy in the field of defense industry, so the key topics for us are the predictability of orders and the localization of production in ukraine, we are working on this the most. Panikaterina, thank you very much for participating in our broadcast, i hope that we will continue to contact, highlight and support all your enterprises, which are part of the technology. Forces of ukraine, i will remind our viewers that it was kateryna mikhalko, executive director of the association of Technological Forces of ukraine. These were the main components related to the use of the technological potential of our Defense Enterprises. The military wants to have Technological Solutions, robotic, disembodied platforms to be used effectively on the battlefield, our industrialists are ready to manufacture and supply them, but they need a system. The attitude of the government and the removal of those obstacles that we see still exist in order for this process to be fast, efficient and multifaceted, so stay on the espresso channel, there will be a lot of interesting information and news. Congratulations, this is a project of the espresso tv channel and the atr tv channel razom beraber, a project in which we, Khrystyna Yatskiv and ayder muzhdabaev, and all our esteemed guests talk about the temporarily occupied crimea, recall the actual course of the occupation and try to understand how they are currently acting, in particular, the Defense Forces and the ukrainian state in order to liberate the peninsula as soon as possible. We welcome you. We will probably start with a reminder that simple and very human dreams about coffee on the embankment in crimea cannot be limited. In general, our thoughts and our desires to return the penins