War

Less bureaucracy – more drones: The Ministry of Defense proposes a new procurement model

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has presented plans for the procurement of unmanned aerial vehicles for 2025. The presentation took place during a meeting with representatives of the Technological Forces of Ukraine Union, an association of leading manufacturers of innovative weapons for defense. This was reported by the Ministry of Defense, Komersant ukrainskyi informs.

The goal is to scale up the production and supply of unmanned systems for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as to simplify bureaucratic procedures, which will allow for faster integration of new models of drones into the troops.

“Ensuring technological superiority over the enemy is one of the key tasks for 2025. If last year the main financial resource was directed to the purchase of long-range deepstrike drones, this year more than UAH 44 billion is planned for the purchase of FPV, including fiber-optic models,” said Hlib Kanevskyi, Director of the Procurement Policy Department of the Ministry of Defense.

The meeting participants paid special attention to reducing the time of delivery of drones from production to combat units, as well as expanding the range of suppliers and manufacturers of defense products.

A new model for providing drones is proposed

The Defense Procurement Agency has presented new rules of interaction between the state, the army and business to arms manufacturers.

In particular, it concerns the introduction of the DOT-Chain system in the procurement of drones. According to Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, the system has already been successfully used in non-lethal procurement and will now help:

– Deliver drones to the frontline faster: units will be able to choose the UAVs they need, and the delivery time will be reduced from months to a few weeks.

– Support manufacturers: they will receive predictable orders and will be able to plan production scaling.

– Create transparent rules: clear supply mechanisms will stimulate competition and market development.

“The DOT-Chain Defense System gives brigades the ability to determine which drones they need according to the situation on the battlefield. At the same time, manufacturers will get a clear picture of demand and will be able to plan production more efficiently. Thus, we are creating a system that will work stably and smoothly,” emphasized Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

According to him, the goal is to ensure that no military personnel have to wait weeks or months for what they need.

Ukraine has a record defense budget

This year, UAH 2 trillion 230 billion is allocated to support the Ukrainian army and strengthen the defense industry. This was announced in January by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

According to him, spending on weapons and military equipment will amount to at least UAH 739 billion.

“The plans of domestic defense companies include increasing existing production capacities to $30 billion. As part of the Weapons of Victory project, we will launch long-term contracts with manufacturers for 3-5 years,” the Prime Minister said.

He also recalled the task from the President of Ukraine to produce at least 30,000 long-range drones. Ukrainian companies also plan to produce about 3,000 cruise missiles and drone missiles.