6th UK-UA Defence Tech Forum to take place in London: cooperation with Ukraine, arms production and investment

The sixth UK-UA Defence Tech Forum, focused on defence industrial cooperation between Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and international partners, will take place in London on 20 November 2026. The event will be held at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), with official support from the Embassy of Ukraine in the United Kingdom. Defender Media is a media partner of the forum.

The event is organised by Strategy Council. The forum will bring together representatives of defence companies, military personnel, government officials, investors and technology developers. This year’s conference will focus on accelerating development, scaling production and delivering new defence tech to the military.

The UK-UA Defence Tech Forum series was launched to foster cooperation among Ukrainian, British, and international defence companies and investors.

The first part of the conference will focus on the UK–Ukraine 100-Year Partnership and its role in the UK’s defence industrial strategy.

Participants will discuss combining Ukrainian combat experience with British and European engineering capabilities, moving from rapid frontline development to serial production and ensuring compliance with NATO standards. Other topics include the exchange of combat data, cooperation with Ukrainian military personnel and the development of Ukraine’s defence exports.

Build In Ukraine: Ukrainian developments and cooperation with the military

A separate discussion will focus on cooperation between private defence companies and the military, as well as developing technologies in line with frontline needs.

Examples to be considered at the forum include the Octopus and Nightfall interceptor drone projects, as well as the development of new tactical ballistic missiles for Ukraine.

Participants will also discuss changes to Ukraine’s defence export regulations and defence procurement reform.

Build With Ukraine: joint production and international markets

This section will focus on scaling cooperation among Ukrainian, British and European defence companies.

Participants will consider examples of establishing joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, opportunities to expand the production of Ukrainian companies in the United Kingdom and entering European markets.

The discussion will focus on localising component production, supply-chain independence, and Ukrainian grant programmes for manufacturers.

Investment in Ukrainian defence tech

The financial discussion will cover the development of major Ukrainian defence tech companies, attracting venture capital to scale production and the international valuation of Ukrainian defence tech businesses.

Other topics include IPO prospects for European defence companies, mergers and acquisitions, and the availability of lending and insurance for arms manufacturers.

Ukrainian defence start-up pitches

At 16:00, a pitching session dedicated to attracting investment for promising Ukrainian defence tech companies will begin.

The technology areas listed in the programme include:

• Ballistic and anti-ballistic missiles.
• Interceptor drones, including jet-powered systems, and heavy multicopters.
• Tactical acoustic sensors and target-information processing systems using voice AI.
• Laser-guided artillery systems.
• Unmanned ground vehicles.
• Private air defence.
• Unmanned systems for demining.
• Modular tethered and autonomous systems.

Participants will also discuss Brave1 Market, using AI to predict and neutralise attacks, digitising combat processes, and developing autonomous systems.

Who will participate

The organisers have already named some of the confirmed speakers:

• Mark Farrell — Air Vice-Marshal and Director of Ukraine Capabilities at the UK Ministry of Defence.
• Auksė Jurkutė — Managing Director of International Strategic Initiatives at Bank of America.
• Matthias Lena — Managing Director of Quantum Frontline Industries.
• Denys Demko — First Secretary for Economic Affairs at the Embassy of Ukraine in the United Kingdom.
• Vadym Burukin — Elendil Alliance.
• Denys Hurak — MITS Capital.
• Petro Dobrianskyi — CEO of DEF DRONES.
• Mykyta Rozhkov — Business Development Director at Frontline Robotics.
• Ihor Chaikivskyi — Robotic Complexes.
• Seungwon Cho — Newtype Industries.
• Anmol Manohar — CEO of Greenjets.
• James Westlake — Molfar Intelligence.
• Daniel Bilak — Kinstellar.
• Andrii Ziuz — Director of Skyeton Prevail Solutions.

Representatives of the 1st Azov Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine, the 412th Nemesis Separate Unmanned Systems Brigade and AB3Tech / the 3rd Army Corps have also confirmed their participation.

Registered delegates include representatives of Alta Ares, ARX Robotics, Babcock, Callen-Lenz, Cambridge Aerospace, Citibank, Destinus, General Cherry, In-Q-Tel, Leonardo, MYDEFENCE, Newtype Industries, Raytheon, Tiberius Aerospace and the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).

Details and registration

Defender Media readers can receive a 25% discount on the registration fee. To claim it, enter the promo code Defender25 when registering on the forum’s official website.