The large sum provided in the 2016 national budget to the Defense Ministry will be sent to restore the air defense system of the country, Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov has said.

"Restoration of air defense is a top priority for 2016," he said in Makariv in Kyiv region during his visit to scientific-production enterprise Aerotechnica.

He said that Ukraine's air defense facilities were removed from the Defense Ministry for a long period of time and sold abroad.

He said that the 2016 national budget envisages around UA H114 billion for the needs of defense (over 5% of GDP) and the large sum will be sent to air defense.

Turchynov said that the large difficulty is that many enterprises that produce spare parts are located in Russia.

He pinned hope on Ukrainian enterprises, including private enterprises which produce similar equipment, but without Russian parts.

He said that the development of the private compound of the defense and industrial complex and fair and transparent competition is a serious incentive for improving the quality and reducing the price of military products.