Ukrainian drone maker F-Drones to open manufacturing centre in US

Ukrainian defence company F-Drones will open its first assembly and manufacturing centre in the United States after securing a Pentagon contract.

Source: a press release from the office of US Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur

Details: The press release says that Ukrainian Defense Drones (UDD), the US representative of F-Drones, will invest US$18.4 million in a new manufacturing project in the village of Holland, Ohio. The project is expected to create at least 300 jobs.

The new assembly and manufacturing centre will supply FPV drones, other unmanned systems, training, testing and dual-use commercial solutions for the US and its allies. The project also includes expanding production, workforce training, localisation of supply chains and the company's long-term expansion in the US.

"Becoming the first Ukrainian drone manufacturer authorised by the Government of Ukraine to export drone systems to the US military is a historic milestone, and the next step is to share the technology to produce these drones on American soil," said F-Drones CEO Stas Khutor.

He noted that the company supports the concept of the future US-Ukraine Drone Deal and aims to contribute to strengthening the security and technological leadership of both Ukraine and the US.

The press release also notes that F-Drones has more than three years of experience deploying its systems in wartime conditions, with its technologies developed, tested, adapted and used directly on the battlefield in Ukraine.

It also stresses that the US and its allies currently need scalable, affordable and secure drone production, and that the Ukrainian company's battlefield experience enables such capabilities to be introduced more rapidly.

The new centre became possible after UDD joined the US Department of Defense's US$1 billion Drone Dominance Program, which involves the procurement of over 200,000 drones by 2027.

According to Michael Hewitt, head of U2D2, a US initiative supporting drone manufacturers, the organisation assists more than a dozen Ukrainian and Eastern European companies that collectively produce over 10,000 drones per day and have become participants in the Department of Defense's Drone Dominance Program.

In the first stage of the programme, F-Drones' F10 platform ranked sixth and secured a US government contract to supply 2,000 FPV drones.

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