- Biggest ever UK drone package for
Ukraine announced, including more than 120,000 drones,
supplying cutting-edge battlefield technology.
- Majority of investment to be spent
with British companies, boosting growth and defence
jobs across the UK.
- Announcement comes as the Defence Secretary co-chairs a
meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Berlin.
The UK has announced the biggest ever drone package for Ukraine,
delivering at least 120,000 drones for Ukraine this year and
driving growth and jobs across the UK.
It comes as the Defence Secretary travels to Berlin today to
co-chair the 34th meeting of the 50-nation
strong Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Berlin, alongside
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, Ukrainian Minister
of Defence Mykhailo Fedorov, and NATO Secretary General
Mark Rutte.
The new package, the largest of its kind ever supplied by the
UK, will include thousands of long-range strike
drones, intelligence and reconnaissance
drones, logistics drones and maritime
capabilities, which are all battle-proven on Ukraine's
frontline. Deliveries of these new drones to Ukraine have
already started this month.
Drones are proving critical to both Ukrainian counterattacks
across the frontline over the past months, as well as their
defence against continued Russian attacks. Approximately 6,500
one-way attack drones were launched by Russia against Ukraine in
March 2026, a significant increase on February's total.
In a boost to British business, the majority
of this investment will be spent with
UK-basedcompanies, including Tekever, Windracers and Malloy
Aeronautics - creating new UK jobs whilst defending Ukraine's
security and sovereignty. The British drone sector is rapidly
advancing, and supports both UK
security and wider European deterrence, while
driving skills and innovation in every region of the UK.
Defence Secretary MP said:
“In the fifth year of Putin's brutal war, the UK is stepping up
further and providing the highest ever number of drones for
Ukraine this year.
“This big boost of battle-proven drones will give Ukrainian
forces the capability they need to defend their people and fight
back against Russian aggression.
“With eyes on the Middle East in recent weeks, Putin wants us to
be distracted, but Ukrainians continue to fight with huge
courage and nothing will distract us from continuing to stand
with them for as long as it takes to secure peace.”
The new drone package is backed by the UK's wider £3 billion
military support for Ukraine this year, as well as ERA funding.
The Defence Secretary will also confirm that the UK will be
providing hundreds of
thousands of artillery rounds and thousands of air
defence missiles for Ukraine this year.
This follows the new world-leading defence partnership, agreed
last month, that will see the UK and Ukraine work together to
boost global defensive capability against the proliferation of
low cost, high tech military hardware, including drones.
The UK continues to play a leading role in international support,
with Healey convening and co-chairing the
Ukraine Defence Contact Group alongside Germany, working
closely with allies across NATO and beyond. The Chancellor of the
Exchequer, is also expected to announce
further support for Ukraine later today at a meeting of
international finance ministers in Washington DC.
Today's announcement builds on the UK's recent £500 million air
defence package announced in February at the
Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in
Brussels.
That package included £150 million for NATO's Prioritised Ukraine
Requirements List (PURL) initiative, enabling the rapid delivery
of air defence interceptors, alongside the provision of more than
1,000 Lightweight Multirole Missiles manufactured in
Belfast.
It also supported a £390 million deal to boost collaboration
between UK and Ukrainian industry, including the transfer of
production and support for air defence systems to Ukraine.
