Northrop Grumman finalizes deal to coproduce ammo in Ukraine

WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman has finalized a coproduction agreement to build medium-caliber ammunition in Ukraine, becoming the first US defense company to make weapons inside Ukrainian borders during the war.

The caveat is that no Northrop personnel will set foot in Ukraine, with a company spokesperson telling Breaking Defense that, “we will do this work from our operations in the United States.”

The signing of the agreement took place at the Ukrainian embassy on Wednesday, according to Steve O’Bryan, Northrop’s Global Business Development Officer. His comments came during a panel at the NATO Public Forum in Washington.

“We have an agreement now for the first US company with coproduction in Ukraine signed for the first time. We will be producing it in Ukraine, by Ukrainians,” he said.

“Those kinds of innovative approaches not only help Ukraine meet its desire to be part of the arsenal of democracy, but it also expands capacity that we need desperately across the world,” O’Bryan added. “It’s not just the capacity we’re looking for in the United States. It’s those coproduction [agreements], co-development and partnerships that are going to expand capacity across through the whole region.”

Northrop will send manufacturing equipment to Ukraine and will train select members of the Ukrainian workforce in person at a location outside Ukraine’s borders, a source with knowledge of the effort told Breaking Defense.

The broader workforce will then be trained by the employees who received instruction by Northrop Grumman, and the US defense prime will also virtually work beside local employees until they are able to produce ammunition comfortably without assistance, said the person.

The source declined to comment on when ammunition would begin rolling off the line, but said all parties involved are “working very quickly.”

A Northrop executive quietly broke the news about the US defense giant’s plans to begin building ammunition in Ukraine last month, while asking a question of a State Department official at the Eurosatory arms show in Paris.

“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,” Dave Bartell, director of international business for Northrop’s defense systems sector, said then. Northrop declined to comment on the pending deal at the time.

While European defense firms have been bullish on forging new coproduction deals with Ukraine, the United States has taken a more timid approach, opting to stand up manufacturing arrangements in Eastern Europe instead of in Ukraine, where infrastructure would be under threat of Russian attacks.

However, in recent months, the US government has shown signs that direct cooperation with Ukraine’s defense industry could be forthcoming. In December, the US and Ukraine signed a Statement of Intent on Co-production and Technical Data Exchange to address Ukraine’s urgent needs on munitions production, air defense systems, and repair and sustainment.

Ahead of the NATO Summit, President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in June signed a bilateral agreement espousing the need for “defense industrial cooperation, including codevelopment, coproduction, and supply of Ukraine’s defense industrial base requirements.”

Kollen Post in Kyiv contributed to this story.