Photo: Trophylab (Courtesy Image)
A Ukrainian platform that shares captured Russian and North Korean military hardware for “destructive testing” and other research has granted access to 376 foreign companies and agencies since its launch, a spokesman for the initiative told RFE/RL on October 14.
Ukraine’s Trophylab was announced in June as a “shared space for enemy weapons research” that publishes hands-on analysis of recovered weapons for approved Ukrainian and foreign entities. The level of international interest in the platform has the potential to significantly impact the Kremlin’s weapons industry, analysts say.
A page from the Trophylab website lists systems available for research, including Russian drones and missiles, as well as North Korea’s KN-23A ballistic missile (top left).
Anna Harvey, a research fellow with the American Foreign Policy Council, told RFE/RL that, in addition to the platform’s stated purpose of helping to develop countermeasures to individual Russian weapons, it is likely some companies using Trophylab will “reverse engineer Russian technology based off of Ukraine’s captured samples.” Such copycat products, she predicts, could become “direct competitors to Russian manufacturers selling abroad.”
Harvey added that foreign entities that may have been exploring potential weapons purchases from Russia could now assess “how these systems actually perform on the battlefield,” rather than relying on Russian specifications.
Ukrainian troops pose with a captured Russian 2S19 Msta in September 2022. The self-propelled howitzers are among Russia’s most advanced artillery pieces and are valued at around $1.5 million per unit.
Trophylab holds samples of more than 200 captured items, including Russia’s hypersonic Kinzhal missile, a T-90M tank, and North Korea’s KN-23 ballistic missile. Those with access can apply to receive hardware for physical testing to the point of “complete destruction,” if necessary. Completed research is uploaded to the portal by users, where it is checked for “compliance, uniqueness, and scientific value” before being published for all users of the platform to view.
Soon after its launch, applicants for access to Trophylab were split equally between Ukrainian and foreign entities, but by August the platform had received around 130 applications for access from Ukraine and more than 300 from abroad. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry did not say at the time how many applicants were approved for access.
Trophylab’s spokesman declined to specify the number of foreign countries currently accessing the research platform, but the organization says at the level of government agencies access is limited to those from a list of 28 countries that have signed security and other agreements with Ukraine.
A captured German Leopard 2A4 tank (left) on display at a museum in Pyongyang in April. In the background, a Turkish-made Kirpi armored vehicle is visible.
Militaries have long shared what is known as “weapons technical intelligence” with allies at the state level, including both sides of of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Russia, for its part, has supplied North Korea with captured NATO military hardware used by Ukrainian forces and is reported to have sent advanced Western weapons to Tehran.
But insiders say the democratization represented by Trophylab, in which small startups can use the same research data as defense ministries, is likely to significantly accelerate weapons development in those countries with access to the intelligence.
In a July interview, Gus McLachlan, a retired Australian major general, said, “What TrophyLab does for the first time is makes [captured weapons research] widely available to innovation organisations, technology companies, and the broader defense industry in a way that we haven’t seen before.”
