Defence Minister Sprūds: cooperation between the United Kingdom and Latvia in the drone coalition will remain close to ensure Ukraine receives drones that it currently needs and drone industry keeps growing stronger

During his working visit to the United Kingdom, Andris Sprūds, Defence Minister of Latvia, met with his British counterpart Luke Pollard, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for the Armed Forces).
Meeting between the officials focused on bilateral cooperation and current drone coalition priorities in the context of continued support to Ukraine.

“Drone coalition is scaling up quickly. Together with the United Kingdom, which helps us manage the coalition’s work, we are continuously coordinating drone delivery initiatives between international partners to secure more UAVs for Ukraine. We are also facilitating our defence and drone industries, and international cooperation. This should allow us to be able to supply Ukrainian Armed forces with various types of drones they currently need,” Minister Sprūds stressed.

Defence officials also discussed future cooperation in the framework of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) and how to ensure coordinated joint presence of allied forces in the Baltics and North Sea area. Next JEF exercise in Latvia is scheduled for this November. 

Minister also informed about the outcomes of the UK-Latvia drone industry forum, which was aligned to Minister’s visit, bringing together businesses on both sides to discuss unmanned aerial technology innovations. “International drone coalition is becoming a vital platform that yields many international drone industry partnerships, promotes innovation ventures, investment, rising production capacities. Huge interest from Latvian and British drone companies is a reflection of the enormous cooperation potential this industry has,” Andris Sprūds underlined.

During the working visit to the UK, Latvian Defence Minister was interviewed by several leading media, such as BBC Hard Talk, Financial Times and Sky News.

As announced earlier, Defence Minister is in the United Kingdom on a working visit on 28-29 August.

United Kingdom is one of Latvia’s strategic partners in areas like security and defence. Both countries work side-by-side in NATO, Joint Expeditionary Force, the Northern Group and other formats that have been created to promote defence capabilities.

Drone coalition is an initiative jointly created by Latvia and the United Kingdom. Since its formation in February 2024, Latvia has already delivered 3 000 combat drones of various class and capabilities to Ukraine. This year Latvia intends to spend €20 million on the drone coalition activities.

Ministry of Defence will continue to procure the necessary drones from local manufacturers until the end of the year. Procurement will be divided in batches to allow local companies gradually ramp up their production to required levels and meet the changing demands of the Ukrainian side.

Drone coalition is comprised of 16 countries: Latvia, the United Kingdom, Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Estonia, Italy, New Zealand, Canada, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Ukraine, Germany and Sweden. It is open to other countries, as well.

MoD Military Public Affairs Department
Media Relations Section
Phone: 67335391
E-mail: prese@mod.gov.lv