MILAN \u2014 The European Union and Ukraine have signed a drone deal to merge Ukrainian expertise in unmanned warfare with the continent\u2019s industrial capacity, with the goal of ramping up production of drone and counter-drone systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether we can work on joint production, on making all of the components of the systems work, and provide both defense industrial bases with the impetus needed to step up investments and production,\u201d European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said when announcing the agreement on Wednesday. Von der Leyen was in Kyiv to mark the war-torn country\u2019s Statehood Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted<\/a> that the country is currently producing 10 million drones per year and envisions this number rising to 20 million annually with the help of partners.<\/p>\n Under the drone deal, joint ventures will be established between selected Ukrainian and European defense companies to fast-track the development and manufacturing of unmanned technologies. An initial meeting is scheduled to take place in Brussels between the \u201c19 founding members,\u201d according to an EU press release.\u00a0<\/p>\n Participating EU member-state firms include: ORQA (Croatia), Indra Group (Spain), Fincantieri (Italy), WB Group (Poland), Destinus (the Netherlands), Delair (France), Terma (Denmark), and Quantum Systems (Germany). The Ukrainian companies taking part are, for the most part, specialized in first-person-view combat drones: Skyfall Industries, Greentech Harvest, Tencore, Deviro, Vyriy Industry, Athlon Avia, Tehavtofart Pivden (TAF), UForce and F-Drones.\u00a0<\/p>\n While most of the listed companies focus on aerial drones, two in particular \u2014 Fincantieri and UForce \u2014 will leverage their expertise in naval drones and serve as systems integrators in the maritime domain.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Europe, we already have huge technological and industrial capacity that can be deployed. And we have safe and secure production sites that can help to scale up,\u201d von der Leyen said<\/a>. \u201cBut we do not have that battle-tested knowledge and expertise that Ukraine has forged. So the point I am making is that we need to combine our strengths. Together, we can work on joint production.\u201d<\/p>\n At the NATO summit in Ankara last week, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine has signed a total of nine drones deals thus far with individual countries.<\/p>\n