Ukrainian parliament to consider tax benefits for fibre-optic drone manufacturers

The tax committee of the Verkhovna Rada has reviewed and endorsed bills providing tax and customs benefits for manufacturers of fibre-optic drones, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak has reported.

The committee unanimously recommended that both bills be adopted. Parliament is expected to consider them next week.

Bill No. 13306 proposes to add fibre-optic cables and harnesses to the list of defence-related goods under the Law “On Defence Procurement”. Bill No. 13305 calls for VAT exemption and customs relief for components used in drone assembly.

According to the authors, adoption of the bills would lower production costs for unmanned systems and reduce state budget expenditure on their procurement. At the same time, potential state budget losses from the customs exemptions are estimated at around UAH 30 million.

Last week, the Ministry of Defence codified the first domestically produced fibre-optic UAVs, “Predator REBOFF”, featuring spools ranging from 10 to 20 km. In addition to drones, ground-based robotic systems also operate using fibre optics.