随着俄乌冲突的持续，越来越多的西方国防企业正在乌克兰设立分支机构、建立生产线，并与当地企业紧密合作。这种合作模式被视为“双赢”，乌克兰能够获得更快速、定制化的武器装备，而西方企业则能获得宝贵的现代战争实战经验和技术洞察。乌克兰的国防工业在实战中积累了丰富的经验，西方国家也借此机会学习并将其应用于自身国防建设。例如，德国的Rheinmetall公司计划在乌克兰建立弹药厂，而Quantum Systems、KNDS、BAE Systems等公司也已纷纷落户。这种合作不仅推动了乌克兰的国防自主，也为西方国防工业的创新和发展提供了独特的契机，尤其是在无人机技术和快速生产方面。

🌍 西方国防企业积极在乌克兰设厂和合作，德国Rheinmetall计划建设弹药厂，Quantum Systems、KNDS、BAE Systems等公司也已进驻，这标志着军事合作的新模式正在形成。

🚀 乌克兰国防工业在实战中积累了宝贵经验，能为西方企业提供现代战争中的技术洞察和创新思路，例如在无人机技术和快速响应方面，这有助于西方国家提升自身国防能力。

💡 乌克兰国防工业展现出强大的生产扩展能力和快速的产品迭代能力，西方国家如丹麦已开始借鉴其“快速生产”的模式，以应对潜在的大规模冲突，并强调了廉价、大批量武器的重要性。

⚖️ 战争经验表明，平衡先进装备和成本效益高的武器生产至关重要。乌克兰的经验强调了快速、大规模生产基础性武器（如弹药）的必要性，以应对现代战争的需求，这与北约目前弹药产量相对不足的状况形成对比。

More and more Western defense companies are opening up operations in Ukraine and working with local firms.A Ukrainian industry body called it a "win-win."Ukraine gets more weapons, and Western companies learn from local experience.

Western arms makers aren't just sending weapons to Ukraine these days; they're moving in. As Russia's war drags on, NATO defense companies are opening offices, setting up new production lines, and working closely with Ukrainian partners inside the country at war.

For Ukraine, the payoff is that it gets faster, more customized firepower. For the West, it's access to something money can't usually buy: real-time lessons in modern warfare.

Ukraine's defense industry is offering hard-earned insights, and NATO countries are able to bring those secrets home before they need to use them themselves.

Talking with Business Insider, representatives of Ukraine's defense industry described Western defense companies working in Ukraine as a "win-win" because it helps them learn from the war and Ukraine's industry while also aiding Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion.

And Many European leaders have acknowledged that their own domestic industries have much that they can learn from Ukraine's booming defense sector.

Ihor Fedirko, the CEO of the Ukrainian Council of Defense Industry, an industry body that represents over 100 Ukrainian defense companies, said Western companies that open offices and produce in Ukraine gain experience "for our type of work." The war is a fast-moving conflict where new tech and innovations are substantially changing how wars are fought, with new developments in drone technology being among the most noticeable.

Western companies in Ukraine

Among the growing number of Western defense companies that have opened up facilities in Ukraine are the German drone and aerial intelligence company Quantum Systems, which said last month that it will double its production capacity in Ukraine, and KNDS, a French-German defense group opening a subsidiary there.

British multinational arms and aerospace company BAE Systems has also set up in Ukraine, and Norwegian defense company Nammo signed an agreement to work with a Ukrainian defense firm. German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall has plans for multiple factories in Ukraine, including an ammunition production plant to make the Lynx infantry fighting vehicle.

Even Western companies without production facilities in Ukraine are testing their products there, working with local companies and soldiers and adapting in real time.

Kuldar Väärsi, the CEO of Estonian defense company Milrem Robotics, which makes military robotic systems like the THeMIS and has some in Ukraine, told BI his company works directly with Ukrainian industry to keep its systems relevant as well as "to work collaboratively to get the lessons learned from the war in Ukraine and help to improve the European defense equipment."

He said that Europe needs to learn from Ukraine's industry, "what works, what doesn't work, what needs to be shifted."

And then domestic operations like Brave1, a Ukrainian government-run defense technology and innovation platform, are creating opportunities for foreign companies to test their combat tech on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Luke Pollard, the UK's armed forces minister, said in May that "if you are a drone company and you do not have your kit on the front line in Ukraine, you might as well give up."

These developments bring a lot of warfighting technology to Ukraine, which needs both innovative solutions and firepower mass to hold its own against Russia.

What the West can learn

Troels Lund Poulsen, NATO ally Denmark's defense minister, told BI in February: "I think we have a lot to learn from Ukraine." He explained that he wants Danish defense companies to learn from Ukrainian ones so that they can "get some of the lessons learned from the defense companies in Ukraine back to Danish defense companies."

He said that by helping Ukraine, "some of the lessons learned will come back to Denmark, and that's a win-win, in fact, both for Ukrainian defense companies and also for Denmark."

Some of those lessons are coming back to Denmark through the new way it is getting weapons for Ukraine, Poulsen said. Known as the Danish model because it was pioneered by Denmark, the model sees countries buying weaponry for Ukraine directly from Ukrainian companies, which means weapons get to Ukraine faster and cheaper, without adding to the production backlog that defense companies all over Europe are seeing.

Denmark's new connection with Ukraine's defense industry means that lessons from those companies can get back to Danish ones, Poulsen said. He said one of the key lessons Denmark needs to adopt is "the way to produce fast."

The West is bracing for a serious conflict, such as a war between Russia and NATO or a fight between the US and China, and defense budgets are soaring. The war in Ukraine is offering insights into modern warfare, specifically what weapons, tactics, and training are needed for the future fight.

A key realization from this war is that in a major war, there is a need to produce weapons and equipment quickly. Denmark's prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said in February that it's a problem "if a country at war can produce faster than the rest of us."

"I'm not saying we are at wartime," she said, "but we cannot say we are at peacetime anymore. So, we need to change our mindset."

Fedirko said that speed is something other European companies can learn from Ukrainian ones: "We can say that what our defense complex is rich with is the ability to scale up manufacturing. That's what we are very good at. So we have a very brief period between R&D."

He said Ukrainian companies are also "very swift in terms of testing and finding out any shortcomings and then refining them, addressing them, and then getting ready a new product."

He added that Ukraine has shown how fast it can create and scale up new types of weaponry, like drones.

Fredriko, NATO defense leaders, and warfare experts have all previously warned that Russia's invasion shows that the West needs to get a larger number of cheaper weapons that it can make quickly, rather than just focusing on a smaller number of advanced pieces of equipment. There has to be a balance between cheap mass and exquisite firepower, they say.

Ammunition is also key. NATO's secretary general warned this month that Russia makes as much ammunition in three months as NATO does in a year. In the war in Ukraine, ammunition has at times been a decisive factor in battles.

Working in Ukraine, Western companies get greater insight and clarity into the demands of large-scale modern wars. Russia has been getting these lessons firsthand. This is proving an opportunity for the West to catch up.