KYIV. Sept 11 (Interfax) - Ukroboronprom is working on plans to upgrade the Ukrainian Armed Forces' tanks in line with NATO standards, based on its joint project with Poland's Zaklady Mechaniczne Bumar Labedy S.A to upgrade Polish T-72s to the NATO version PT-17, the Ukrainian state concern said on Friday.
The experience gained by the Ukrainian defense industrial complex during the large-scale and technologically sophisticated project to create, in line with NATO standards, a new Polish version of T-72, the PT-17, can be successfully used to resolve the problem of renewing the fleet of the Ukrainian T-72, T-64 and T-80 tanks in line with NATO standards, the statement said.
"Once they receive the relevant order from the Defense Ministry, the Ukroboronprom enterprises will be ready to prepare and promptly submit their versions of how to upgrade the national T-64, T-72 and T-80 tanks to meet NATO standards," the statement said.
The state firm Ukrinmash, part of Ukroboronprom, is ready to act as an integrator of the project, the statement said.
"Ukrinmash is ready, in case there is a relevant order from the Defense Ministry, to carry out all work to organize the delivery to, or licensed production in Ukraine of advanced electronic and other components from NATO members to upgrade the Ukrainian armored equipment," Ukrinmash's general director Sergii Sliusarenko was quoted in the statement as saying.
The task of upgrading the national tank fleet to the new standard will be carried out as part of a plan to build a new ammunition plant in Ukraine in line with NATO standards, Ukroboronprom said.
By some estimates, over 1,000 tanks could be upgraded on the basis of the PT-17 version.
It was reported that PT-17, the new version of the Polish T-72, upgraded under a joint project between Ukroboronprom and Poland's Zaklady Mechaniczne Bumar Labedy S.A, was presented to the potential customer at the MSPO 2017 international defense exhibition held in Kielce, Poland, on September 5-8. The modernization, carried out under a contract signed in April, involved gun replacement with NATO's 120 mm caliber, as well as renewing, among others, the tank's automatic loader, engine, gearing system and fire-control and active protection systems. The upgraded T-72's key systems were designed and manufactured in Ukraine.
In January 2016 Ukroboronprom unveiled plans to take part in a program to upgrade Poland's PT-91 main battle tank, a licensed version of the Soviet T-72M1.
According to open sources, currently the Polish Armed Forces have over 700 T-72 tanks, of which more than 200 are PT-91s. Ukraine has about 400 T-72s.