Ukrainian drone maker receives request to protect vessel in Strait of Hormuz
Ukrainian defence company TAF Industries has received a request from a shipowner to deploy some of its experts equipped with anti-drone systems to the Middle East.
Source: BBC News Ukraine
Details: Their task would be to ensure the protection of a vessel while it transits the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran continues to block.
"We have received a request from a shipowner to ensure the safe passage of their vessel through the Strait of Hormuz. This is about providing a military consulting service, not exporting drones," BBC News Ukraine quoted Oleksandr Yakovenko, the company's owner and co-founder, as saying.
Yakovenko said that in accordance with the request, several Ukrainian experts from the company are to be on board whilst the vessel is passing through the Strait of Hormuz and are to deploy their own defence measures, particularly interceptor drones against Iranian Shahed drones. Once the vessel has safely passed through the strait, the "military consultancy" service will be deemed to have been fulfilled.
He noted that Ukraine's wartime experience provides a competitive advantage in the global defence market for such projects.
BBC News Ukraine highlighted that this is the first known request of this kind for a private Ukrainian company in the context of maritime security in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, to provide such "military consulting" services, the company must obtain export approval from Ukrainian authorities: the State Export Control Service and the interagency commission on military-technical cooperation and export control.
As of late April, no permits for exporting finished products had been issued, and applications had not yet been reviewed by the commission. According to Oleh Tsilvik, head of the State Export Control Service, the agency had received only a few applications for arms exports over the past two months, none of which had been considered so far.
However, several permits have already been granted for the export of "military technologies" and "military services", and TAF Industries is among the first companies to receive them. It already operates facilities in Europe, particularly for the production of interceptor drones.
TAF Industries said the request from foreign shipowners regarding the Strait of Hormuz is merely a request and that the necessary documents for its implementation have yet to be submitted.
It is reported that in Kyiv, arms exports are linked to political agreements with Middle Eastern countries. Meanwhile, on 28 April, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that decisions had been made to simplify the supply of Ukrainian weapons and expertise abroad within such agreements.
For reference: TAF Industries produces FPV drones, electronic warfare systems and interceptor drones such as Colibri and Octopus, and plans to expand its product line to include unmanned strike systems.
Previously: TAF Industries earlier signed a memorandum of understanding with Summa Defence, a Finnish company, to scale up drone production.
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