Ukraine sharply increases drone procurement: contract volumes are already four times higher than last year's

Ukraine significantly increased procurement of drones for the military in 2026. The Defense Procurement Agency within the Ministry of Defense system has already contracted 300% more drones of various types than in the entirety of 2025.

In other words, this means roughly a fourfold increase in order volumes. Separately, the Ministry of Defense notes a sharp rise in FPV drones: contracts for them are already 54% higher than for all of last year, and the actual delivery volume has grown nearly 3.7 times.

Procurement pace has notably accelerated in recent months

According to the Ministry of Defense, over recent months the Defense Procurement Agency contracted about 5.5 times more drones of various types than in the same period of 2025.

This is not about one type of equipment, but unmanned systems for various tasks and ranges.

The department specifically highlights assets for long-range strikes, medium-range drones, and FPV drones that are used en masse directly on the front line.

FPV shipments already exceed last year's total

FPV means drones with first-person view, where the operator sees real-time footage from the camera mounted on the aircraft.

Such drones have become one of the most mass-deployed assets on the battlefield, used to strike equipment, firing positions, logistics, and other targets.

In 2026, FPV drone contract volume is already 54% higher than the figure for the entire year 2025.

However, it's not just signed contracts that are increasing. According to the Ministry of Defense, actual FPV delivery volumes have grown almost 3.7 times.

This is an important distinction: a contract indicates how much equipment the state has ordered, whereas delivery means that drones have already been transferred under executed agreements.

Why there are significantly more orders

The Ministry of Defense attributes the increased volumes to two main factors: attracting support from international partners and expanding the production capabilities of Ukraine's defense-industrial complex.

The department is also trying to make procurement more predictable for manufacturers: in advance agreeing on front-line needs, state order plans, and enterprise capacities.

According to the Ministry of Defense, longer-term and predictable contracting allows producers to plan equipment output, purchase components, and arrange logistics ahead of time, rather than working only with short-term orders.

Drones are becoming a separate major portion of defense procurement

The scale of this sector grew noticeably in the first half of the year.

In July, the Ministry of Defense reported that only in the first six months of 2026 contracts for drones worth 333.6 billion hryvnias were signed—about twice as much as for the same period the previous year.

The largest share of those contracts was for FPV drones.

Simultaneously, the mechanism for supplying units is changing. Through the DOT-Chain Defence system, which the Ministry of Defense describes as a kind of weapons marketplace, military units can independently select the drones and other equipment they need within the allocated financing.

In the first year of this system’s operation, units received more than 1.2 million drones and other assets for a total of 69.2 billion hryvnias. The average delivery time for stockpiled equipment was reduced to nine days.

It’s not just about quantity

Ukraine is simultaneously expanding the array of unmanned systems in use.

In 2026, the Ministry of Defense reported admitting hundreds of new unmanned aerial complexes for service. Among them are reconnaissance and strike systems, FPV drones, bomber drones, interceptors, relays, fiber-optic systems, as well as drones for medium- and long-range strikes.

For the military, increased contracts mean the ability to mass-supply drones at various levels—from individual front-line units to systems for engaging targets far behind the front lines.

For Ukrainian manufacturers, quadrupled orders mean both a significantly larger market and the need to rapidly scale up component production, assembly, and logistics.

New Ministry of Defense data show that in 2026 state drone procurement is moving from gradual growth to a multifold surge: the total volume of concluded contracts has exceeded last year’s result by a factor of four, and in some categories the pace is accelerating even more.

Based on materials from: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.