Ministry of Defence is ready to ship another drone batch with over 2 500 drones worth around 4 million euro to Ukraine

Ministry of Defence announces procurement of the next batch of drones for Ukrainian Armed Forces by the drone coalition in July. Drone coalition intends to send more than 2 500 drone of various specification and capacity for the total of 4 million euro. The largest consignment in the batch – 300 drones – will be shipped in the coming days.

“Drone coalition is picking up speed. Next batch of drones for Ukraine will consist of more than 2 500 drones manufactured by seven different Latvian companies. Latvia and other countries in the international drone coalition are constantly coordinating new deliveries of combat drones for Ukraine based on needs and testing requirements identified by Ukrainian Armed Forces. We also continue to invest large amounts of funding in further development and delivery of drone technologies,” Andris Sprūds, Defence Minister of Latvia, stressed.

Ministry of Defence has allocated €20 million this year for the drone coalition – more than 10 million are earmarked for acquisition of drones from local military industry. Latvia already shipped 135 combat drones and electronic warfare technologies of various capacity worth €1 million to Ukraine this April and May. Ministry of Defence will continue to buy additional drones from Latvian industry until the end of the year. Primarily, those will be first person view (FPV) drones. To enable companies gradually ramp up the necessary manufacturing volumes, procurement has been divided in stages. It also offers greater flexibility in terms of technical specifications that Ukraine is adjusting based on its on-going priorities. 

Drone coalition currently consists of 14 participating countries: Latvia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, France, Canada, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany and Sweden. Members of the drone coalition have so far raised more than €500 million euro, which will be spent to deliver drones to Ukraine. Coalition is also working on joint fund that would facilitate more efficient implementation of national funding allocated for manufacturing of drones.

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