Defense Ministry to buy 4.5 million FPV drones: everything that Ukrainian enterprises can produce

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry aims to triple its drone purchases from 2024, targeting 4.5 million FPV drones in 2025, Hlib Kanievskyi, director of the Procurement Policy Department, announced on Monday.

"The domestic defense industry’s capacity for 2025 is about 4.5 million FPV drones, and we plan to buy them all," Kanievskyi said.

The ministry will spend over 110 billion hryvnias ($2.7 billion), with more than 102 billion hryvnias ($2.5 billion) funneled through the Defense Procurement Agency. Kanevskyi noted that 2025’s budgeted funds will speed drones to the frontlines.

On February 20, Kanievskyi said 44 billion hryvnias ($1.1 billion) would go toward FPV drones in 2025 procurement plans.

For three years, the ministry has been Ukraine’s top drone buyer, with volumes soaring.

"In 2023, we bought thousands of drones. In 2024, with the State Special Communications Service, we hit over 1.5 million," he said.

96% of those funds went to Ukrainian makers and suppliers, boosting the local drone industry.

In December 2024, radio tech expert Serhiy Beskrestnov told LIGA.net that Russia is rapidly scaling fiber-optic drones, using them for must-hit targets, as it does with all its effective solutions.