Ukraine Confirms Procurement of
1.8 Million Military Drones By 2025
Rojoef Manuel / The Defense Post

(October 30, 2024) — Ukraine has verified it has invested in 1.8 million unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for 2024 and 2025 in response to Russia’s continuing attacks, according to the government’s defense agency.

Launched in partnership with the Ukrainian Digital Transformation Ministry, the program has already spent 147 billion hryvnias ($3.5 billion) to sustain the armed forces’ capability across intelligence, target tracking, and strike missions.

The consortium noted that 114 billion hryvnias ($2.7 billion) of this fund was allocated for about 1.6 million platforms in the first 10 months of 2024.

To date, 1.28 million drones of the initial tranche worth 81 billion hryvnias ($1.9 billion) have been handed over to the military, with about 366,900 more expected before the end of 2024.

UAS kits being supplied under the effort include first-person view (FPV) drones, loitering munition or kamikaze drones, Mavic-type reconnaissance copters, and other fixed-wing and copter aircraft.

“Such broad functional specification of unmanned vehicles ensures reliable support for combat units, helping to respond faster to tactical and strategic challenges,” the agency said in a press release.

By next year, the Eastern European country expects to acquire approximately 155,200 drones worth 32.3 billion hryvnias ($783.2 million) that incorporate all planned UAS configurations.

Ukrainian Tactical Drone Expansion
Ukraine’s update followed President Volodymyr Zelensky’s announcement this month that the country has reached full operability to produce up to four million drones each year as part of the government’s strategy to boost local production.

Also this month, Lithuania supplied a tranche of its FPV drones as part of the countries’ joint military procurement in partnership with several Ukrainian and Lithuanian developers.

The goal of this cooperation is to provide 5,000 drones to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and an additional 2,300 for their Baltic counterpart.

Simultaneously, the Canadian government pledged a new military donation to Ukraine, which allocated approximately $3.6 million for a separate multinational drone coalition.