Drone Deal with Ukraine to Give US Access to Battlefield Tech
A Ukrainian team was in Washington last week to craft a landmark agreement with the Trump administration that would involve Kyiv sharing its battle-tested drone technology with the U.S. in exchange for royalties or other forms of compensation, according to officials from both countries.
The prospective deal, which has the backing of President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, would mark a milestone in the security relationship between Washington and Kyiv.
For years, the Ukrainian military has received U.S. weapons, most recently under an arrangement in which the Trump administration sells arms to European nations that are donating them to Kyiv.
Under the new deal, Ukraine would draw on its extensive experience in producing and using drones to battle the Russian military. A team of Ukrainians, led by the country’s Deputy Defense Minister Sergiy Boyev, began several days of talks in Washington with Pentagon and State Department officials on Tuesday.Finalizing the detailed agreement, which could be worth billions of dollars, is likely to take months, a U.S. government official said.
While the U.S. companies make some sophisticated drones, the Ukrainians are well ahead in mass producing cheap unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, that have proved to be effective in battle.
“It is just a reality that we need Ukrainian drone tech in the U.S.,”said William McNulty, a partner at UA1, a U.S. venture-capital fund, which has invested in eight Ukrainian defense companies.
The potential deal also has political significance as Kyiv looks to solidify ties with Trump, whose support for Ukraine has sometimes been erratic. Trump has become increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to step up attacks on Ukraine while rebuffing White House appeals to negotiate a peace settlement, which has also opened the door to more U.S. and Ukrainian cooperation.
The drone agreement is emerging as part of a package that would include a separate “megadeal” in which Ukraine is hoping to purchase tens of billions of dollars in arms from the U.S., Zelensky said Saturday. Ukraine is hoping that the arms deal includes long-range missiles to expand its striking power against Russia.
The potential drone deal also highlights how much the U.S. industry can benefit from Ukraine, which has pioneered new technologies, tactics, as well as the ability to rapidly incorporate innovations for a changing battlefield. With the war in Ukraine rewriting how nations fight, governments, investors and companies in Europe have already been rushing to capitalize on Ukraine’s drone technology.
A U.S. government official said the drone deal is designed to allow U.S. forces to capitalize on Ukraine’s competitive advantage in UAVs. In turn, Kyiv is seeking to pay for high-end American weapons. He was referring to the Patriot antimissile system, the Himars launchers that fire GMLRS rockets and Army Tactical Missile Systems, or Atacms, and the Air Force’s multirole fighter.
The U.S. and Ukraine are exploring several different mechanisms for facilitating drone technology transfer from Kyiv to the U.S., according to people familiar with the talks. They include deals in which Ukrainian companies provide drone technology and prototypes to American companies in exchange for a royalty or an arrangement in which a Ukrainian company establishes a subsidiary in the U.S. to produce drones. Another possibility is buying the drones directly from Ukraine for the U.S. military.
Any accord over drone technology will have to facilitate access to technology and systems from private Ukrainian drone companies. There are more than 300 drone companies in the country, according to the Ukrainian Council of Gunsmiths, a trade organization.
The widespread use of Chinese parts in Ukrainian drones is one problem that needs to be managed. U.S. companies that acquire Ukrainian drones and technologies can’t use Chinese components because of the imperative of having secure supply lines.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
