Ukraine plans to buy 200,000 drones directly from manufacturers in the near future, with another 600,000 FPV drones to be purchased through competitive bidding and a new defense marketplace called Defense Chain, where military units can choose the models they need, a senior official said.
Artem Zhumadilov, head of Ukraine's State Procurement Agency, said the total number of FPV drones to be contracted this year is expected to reach 2.3 million — a figure that could increase.
On March 17, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the successful test of a domestically produced drone capable of flying 3,000 kilometers.
Later, on March 29, Oleksandr Kamyshin, a former minister and now an adviser to Zelenskyy, said Ukraine has the capacity to produce up to 5 million FPV drones a year.
He said more than 150 Ukrainian manufacturers are currently able to produce up to 100,000 drones per month.