Dorozvidka #26: DTV 2025, Perry Boyle, Ragnar Sass, Scopa Industries, and the launch of “managed” weapons exports

Last week Lviv hosted the Defense Tech Valley 2025 investment summit, organised by the Brave1 cluster and the Ministry of Digital Transformation. The event drew 5,000 participants and 1,500 foreign guests from more than 50 countries. Four international investment firms announced plans to commit over $100 million to Ukrainian defence tech at the summit.

Defender Media continues to publish updates from DTV 2025 in its regular “Dorozvidka” briefing. This issue also rounds up notable stories from the week:

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the reintroduction of “managed” weapons exports;
• MITS Capital co-founder Perry Boyle on the lessons NATO should learn from the war in Ukraine;
• Oppenheimer Acceleration Fund founder Oleksandr Soroka on the investment into Scopa Industries;
• DeViRo on the upgraded Bulava loitering munition.

Zelensky: Ukraine to restart limited, “managed” weapons exports

Ukraine will resume limited, “managed” exports of certain domestically produced weapons that are in surplus relative to the needs of the Armed Forces, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on 19 September. He specifically mentioned a surplus of maritime drones.

“We will cover shortfalls in weapons-production funding from this year, in part through managed exports of some of our weapons. With this managed export we will increase production of drones for the frontline,” the president said.

Zelensky added that priorities will be: first, equipping brigades at the front; second, replenishing Ukraine’s arsenals; and only third, managed exports. A concept for weapons export — three new export platforms — is expected to be presented within two weeks.

Ragnar Sass: takeaways from Defense Tech Valley

Darkstar co-founder Ragnar Sass called Defense Tech Valley the most intensive startup conference he has ever attended. He noted that Ukrainian defence startups are multiplying and innovating at exceptional speed — some firms are almost unrecognisable after six months. Drones dominated the summit — FPVs, UGVs, bombers, ISR systems and interceptors — but Sass stressed that Ukraine still urgently needs cheap mid-range strike drones (60–200 km).

Unlike many traditional EU defence companies, Ukrainian teams rapidly test products in combat with direct support from frontline units such as Khartia, Azov and Achilles.

Sass urged Europe to increase funding by a factor of fifty to help Ukraine win.

Scopa Industries raises funding from Oppenheimer Acceleration Fund

Ukrainian aerospace startup Scopa Industries, which develops jet engines for rockets and drones, has raised investment from the US-Ukrainian Oppenheimer Acceleration Fund, founder Oleksandr Soroka said on Facebook.

Scopa’s engineers have built an engine capable of pushing UAVs beyond 500 km/h. Defender Media ran a detailed piece on the startup in early September.

Perry Boyle: NATO must learn all the lessons of Ukraine — not just some

Perry Boyle, co-founder and CEO of MITS Capital, published an extended post on LinkedIn arguing that NATO countries are not fully absorbing the lessons of the war in Ukraine. He points to structural problems in Western militaries — centralised, bureaucratic procurement systems that struggle to match the speed of Ukrainian battlefield innovation. Boyle says greater freedom for lower-level commanders to procure and adapt equipment is key to rapid innovation, and doubts NATO can fully replicate Ukraine’s model until it faces a similar, direct confrontation.

Acting on these convictions, Boyle and partners last week launched MITS Industries, a Danish-Ukrainian company that will bring together leading Ukrainian component makers for the “drone war.” Initial consortium members include Tencore, Infozahyst, Unwave and an unnamed UAV manufacturer. MITS Industries aims to be an investment platform for Ukrainian defence tech and to bolster European security.

DeViRo’s upgraded Bulava extends range to 100 km

DeViRo told Militarnyi at Defense Tech Valley that its loitering munition Bulava has been upgraded. The latest modernisation doubles the system’s range — from a tactical radius of 55 km to more than 100 km — and increases endurance to a guaranteed 75 minutes of flight time.

The new Bulava also features wings extended by 7 cm and a new 5-kg warhead optimized for striking high-value targets behind enemy lines. This upgraded variant will be offered alongside the previous versions and can be ordered by units on request.