UK to produce Ukraine-designed interceptor drones, supply thousands

LONDON — The United Kingdom will scale up interceptor-drone technology developed by Ukraine and plans to deliver thousands of drones to the embattled country every month, Defence Secretary John Healey said at the DSEI UK defense show here on Thursday.

Under Project Octopus, Ukraine will share intellectual property related to an interceptor drone that has been “highly effective” against Shahed one-way attack drones, Healey said, following an agreement signed with his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Shmyhal.

In return, the U.K. will further develop and mass produce the drones, which Healey says cost less than 10% of the Russian systems they destroy.

With Ukraine and Russia deploying drones on the battlefield in the millions, the race is on to develop cost-effective counters, a focus at DSEI UK this year. While Healey didn’t elaborate on the cost of the interceptor drone, the Center for Strategic and International Studies put the estimated cost of a Shahed at $35,000 in a February report .

“Our Ukrainian friends will share this technology and the IP with the U.K.,” Healey said. “In turn, together we’ll rapidly develop this further, and then mass produce it, supplying thousands of interceptor drones back into Ukraine each month.”

The agreement follows an announcement this month by drone maker Ukrspecsystems to invest £200 million in two manufacturing facilities in the U.K., the first major investment by a Ukrainian defense company in the country, Healey said.

For the U.K., the agreement gives it access to what Healey called Ukraine’s world-leading technologies and speed of innovation, while Britain can provide advanced manufacturing and robotics. He said the challenge is to demonstrate that the U.K. can add value to what he called a “stand-out innovating and manufacturing system” in Ukraine.

“There’s lots of potential, but the challenge now is, can we deliver on our side of what we promise the Ukrainians?” Healey said. “And if we can over the next few months, that you’ll start to see Britain making an even more significant contribution to their defense and their medium-term prospects, and to stepping up the speed and the equipping our own forces with what’s needed for the future.”

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

伦敦——英国国防大臣约翰·希利周四在伦敦举行的DSEI英国防务展上表示，英国将扩大乌克兰开发的拦截无人机技术，并计划每月向这个饱受战火蹂躏的国家交付数千架无人机。

希利表示，根据“章鱼计划”，乌克兰将分享与拦截无人机相关的知识产权，该无人机对“沙赫德”单向攻击无人机“非常有效”。此前，希利与乌克兰国防部长丹尼斯·什米哈尔签署了一项协议。

作为回报，英国将进一步研发和大规模生产无人机，希利表示，这些无人机的成本不到它们摧毁的俄罗斯系统的 10%。

乌克兰和俄罗斯在战场上部署了数百万架无人机，因此，研发经济高效的反制手段已成为当务之急，这也是今年英国防务与安全展（DSEI UK）的重点议题之一。虽然希利没有详细说明拦截无人机的成本，但战略与国际研究中心在2月份的一份报告中估计，一架“沙赫德”（Shahed）无人机的成本约为3.5万美元。

“我们的乌克兰朋友将与英国分享这项技术和知识产权，”希利说。“反过来，我们将共同迅速地进一步开发这项技术，然后进行大规模生产，每月向乌克兰供应数千架拦截无人机。”

希利表示，此前无人机制造商 Ukrspecsystems 本月宣布将在英国投资 2 亿英镑建设两家制造工厂，这是乌克兰国防公司在英国的首笔重大投资。

对英国而言，这项协议使其能够获得希利所说的乌克兰世界领先的技术和创新速度，而英国则可以提供先进的制造业和机器人技术。他表示，挑战在于如何证明英国能够为乌克兰这个他称之为“卓越的创新和制造体系”增添价值。

“潜力巨大，但现在的挑战在于，我们能否兑现对乌克兰的承诺？”希利说。“如果我们能在未来几个月内做到这一点，那么你们将会看到英国对乌克兰的国防和中期前景做出更大贡献，并加快我们自身部队未来所需装备的步伐。”

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。