SkyFall, F-Drones and seven other Ukrainian manufacturers become founding members of EU-Ukraine drone alliance

Ukraine and the European Commission have launched the EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance, which was announced in May this year. The alliance is intended to deepen cooperation between Ukraine and the EU in the field of drones and counter-drone technologies. The alliance’s founding companies number 18 manufacturers: nine domestic and nine from EU countries.

Ukraine is represented by SkyFall Industries, Greentech Harvest, Tencore, Deviro, Vyriy Industries, Atlon Avia, TAF Industries, UForce and F-Drones. On the European Union side, the Alliance includes ORQA, Indra Group, Fincantieri, WB Electronics, Destinus, Delair, RSI Europe, Terma and Quantum Systems.

The alliance’s creation was announced on 15 July during a visit to Kyiv by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. She noted that the EU has industrial and technological potential and secure production facilities – but lacks Ukraine’s battle-tested knowledge and experience, so the two sides need to combine their strengths.

The alliance will focus on developing joint technologies and enterprises and on scaling up production. Another of its tasks is integrating Ukrainian manufacturers into the EU’s defence ecosystem.

The first meeting of the EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance Council will take place in September in Brussels. It will set work priorities and areas of international cooperation and identify promising joint projects.

Also on 15 July, the European Commission allocated Ukraine a further €1bn for drone procurement. This is already the second payment under the €5.01bn defence tranche. The Commission has also approved a plan to allocate €10bn for financing drones, missiles and fighter jets.