Eastern Europe's military industry is stamping rifles, artillery shells and other military equipment at a rate not seen since the Cold War, Reuters reported.
Allies have been supplying Kyiv with weapons and military equipment since the start of the war, depleting their own supplies in the process.
The United States and Britain provided direct military aid to Ukraine between January 24 and October 3, with Poland ranking third and the Czech Republic ninth.
Some former Warsaw Pact countries, still wary of Russia, view aid to Ukraine as a regional security issue. But nearly a dozen government and corporate officials and analysts who spoke to Reuters said the conflict has also opened up new opportunities for the region's military industry.
"Taking into account the realities of the ongoing war in Ukraine and the visible attitude of many countries aimed at increased spending in the field of defence budgets, there is a real chance to enter new markets and increase export revenues in the coming years," Sebastian Chwalek, CEO of Poland's PGZ.
The state-owned PGZ controls more than 50 companies that produce weapons and ammunition - from armored personnel carriers to unmanned aerial systems - and owns stakes in dozens more. It now plans to invest up to 8 billion zlotys ($1.8 billion) over the next decade, more than double its prewar goal. According to Hvalek, this includes new facilities further from Russia's ally Belarus' border for security reasons.
As the war began, some Eastern European military and manufacturers began emptying their warehouses of Soviet-era weapons and ammunition with which Ukrainians were familiar.
As these stocks dwindled, weapons manufacturers ramped up production of both old and modern equipment to maintain supplies.
Chwalek said PGZ will now produce 1,000 Piorun portable surface-to-air missile systems in 2023 - not all for Ukraine - up from 600 in 2022 and 300 to 350 in previous years.
The company, which he said also supplied artillery and mortar systems, howitzers, body armor, small arms and ammunition to Ukraine, is likely to exceed its prewar revenue target of 6.74 billion zlotys in 2022.
"The Czech Republic was one of the powerhouses of weapons exporters and we have the personnel, material base and production lines needed to increase capacity," NATO Ambassador Jakub Landovsky said.
"This is a great chance for the Czechs to increase what we need after giving the Ukrainians the old Soviet-era stocks. This can show other countries we can be a reliable partner in the arms industry."
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and NATO's expansion into the region pushed companies to modernize, but "they can still quickly produce things like ammunition that fits the Soviet systems", said Simon Weseman, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
"Eastern European countries support Ukraine substantially," Christoph Trebesch, a professor at the Kiel Institute, said. "At the same time it's an opportunity for them to build up their military production industry."
