Drone Manufacturers with 50% Local Production Favored for Government Contracts

Ukrainian drone manufacturers with at least 50 percent of total production in Ukraine are preferred for three, five, or ten-year contracts with the state, Ukraine’s Ministry of Strategic Industries wrote.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense wants “the localization percentage” to be “as high as possible,” according to its procurement policy department.

The ministry is also providing more financial autonomy for brigades to the tune of Hr. 2.5 billion monthly ($60 million). Military units will be allowed to purchase drones. spare parts and components, according to the press release.

Ukrainian drone manufacturing – funded directly from the state budget – has become a crowning glory for the country since Russia’s full-scale invasion, with drones often serving as a substitute for conventional artillery shells.

Ukraine uses drones both on the front line and for attacks on Russian territory. The largest took place on March 11 when Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed it shot down 337 drones across the country.

Russia’s military shot down 91 drones around Moscow, the ministry said in a statement, adding that it downed another 126 over the Kursk region bordering Ukraine.

On Feb. 21, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the allocation of Hr. 7.9 billion ($188.1 million) for the procurement of drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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Ukraine Launches Drone Blitz on Russian Explosives Plants and Fuel Hubs

Ukrainian long-range strike drones executed a multi-regional offensive across Russia overnight Saturday-Sunday. The strategic operation targeted the “Azot” chemical plant in Novomoskovsk – a facility supplying raw materials for Russian artillery shell explosives – sparking fires verified by NASA satellite tracking. Concurrently, separate drone strikes ignited a railway depot in Vyazma and compromised the “Temp” state reserve fuel storage complex in Rybinsk.