- Ukraine plans to produce more than one million small attack drones by the end of this year.
- A senior Ukrainian government official said Kiev would make gains “significantly” beyond its original targets.
- As domestically produced weapons proliferated, the country’s defense industrial base grew exponentially.
A senior Ukrainian official said the country continues to expand its weapons production capabilities and is on track to produce “significantly” more small attack drones by the end of the year than originally planned.
Ukraine’s Minister of Strategic Industry, Oleksandr Kamyshin, spoke in Kiev in December. Production Schedule It plans to produce one million first-person view (FPV) drones by 2025. It also said it can produce more than 10,000 medium-range attack drones capable of flying hundreds of miles, and more than 1,000 drones capable of precisely reaching targets more than 600 miles away, year-round.
“We plan to produce over one million FPV drones this year,” Kamyshin told Business Insider this week, providing an update on production but declining to provide specific figures. “Medium-range attack aircraft, long-range attack aircraft, we will exceed our targets,” he said.
Throughout much of Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine, FPV drones Featured prominently in battle. both sides Cheap and abundant, these systems could be fitted with explosives to attack everything from armored vehicles to soldiers in trenches, effectively turning them into precision weapons.
Speaking to BI on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., Kamyshin said FPV drones “play a big role in modern warfare.” He called them “mortar drones” or “artillery drones,” suggesting their explosive power is similar to long-range weapons.
Ukraine also has other unmanned systems and regularly uses medium- to long-range attack drones, larger than cheap hobbyist FPV drones, to strike deep into Russian territory and target VIPs and important personnel. Military and energy facilities.
These home-made weapons systems give Kiev, which continues to face particular restrictions, the ability to significantly expand its influence beyond its borders. upon using weapons provided by Western countries For such purposes.
“We have proven that there are no red lines that cannot be crossed,” Kamyshin said.
“We can now easily reach 1,500 kilometers deep into Russia. We have demonstrated this dozens, no, hundreds of times,” he said. “This is the impact of our industry on this war.”
The increase in drone production is Broader efforts to expand Ukraine’s defense industrial base, which had little production before the all-out war with Russia, is now churning out weapons at a furious pace and contributing to the growth of the country’s economy.
Kiev is also taking further steps to integrate its growing defense industry with those of NATO and the West. Just opened an office I’m in Washington to achieve that goal.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is adapting its domestic weapons for other missions. For example, it is adapting its naval drones. Missile and rocket launchersone of the anti-ship cruise missiles Ground attack weaponsThese innovations helped Kiev to damage Russia.
Kamyshin attributed this to Ukraine’s “resilience – its ability to withstand pressure and attacks.”
But Ukraine is not the only country strengthening its defenses in this war. Russia is also strengthening its economy. Expert opinion They are implementing a “Soviet-style” war system and are rapidly producing their own weapons. Sounding the alarm Among some NATO allies.
