Ukraine plans to spend USD 550 mln on military drones in 2023

The Ukrainian ministry of defence wants to spend as much as USD 550 mln on drones in 2023. The Ukrainian MoD has already signed 16 supply contracts with Ukrainian manufacturers, informed Oleksii Reznikov, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine are using many various types of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, for reconnaissance, precision strikes and bombing in the ongoing conflict.

“In 2023, we are increasing the procurement of UAVs for the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Minister Reznikov wrote on Facebook.

#Ukraine FPV kamikaze drones of the Ukrainian special forces "Omega" M2 are working (nothing is clear, but very interesting. pic.twitter.com/R1FMAM3ytQ

— Getty 🇺🇦 (@slavaukrainewin) January 17, 2023

“We plan to allocate about 20 billion hryvnias (UAH) (USD 547.05 mln) to this segment,” Mr Reznikov said.

Ukraine is constantly supplied with UAVs from its Western NATO partners. At first, the most popular models were Bayraktar TB2 armed drones, then the superlight (33 grams) Norwegian-made Black Hornet reconnaissance drone, which weighs less.

Now the Ukrainian government aims at stimulating domestic production to create what officials are calling an “army of drones”.

“The independence of the military-industrial complex is one of the factors of the country's defence capability,” said Reznikov.

Earlier in January, the Ukrainian armed forces decided to create special assault drone companies within its army. Following that, the Ukrainian military received applications for 75 variants of Ukrainian-made drones.