Ukraine is moving towards lifting a wartime ban on drone exports, as officials and industry participants say it is imperative to scale up in order to match Russia’s capabilities on the battlefield.
Ukrainian forces are in desperate need of more aerial surveillance, cover and long-range attack drones. But with limited state resources available to pay for military supplies, drone companies are looking abroad to sell their excess production and generate the kind of revenue needed to manufacture more for the army.
Drone exports could bring Ukraine up to $20bn in revenue, “just the money that we lack”, said Oleksandr Marikovskyi, head of the Ukrainian parliament’s economic subcommittee looking at how drone exports will be regulated.