Groundbreaking Ukraine tech sharing agreement to deliver drones and support jobs

The UK will manufacture and jointly develop cutting-edge military equipment with Ukrainian industry through a groundbreaking new technology sharing agreement which will support British jobs and strengthen both UK and Ukrainian national security.

The first joint project, to be announced at the DSEI trade show in London tomorrow (Thursday), is an advanced new air defence interceptor drone, named Project OCTOPUS, which will be mass produced in the UK, with a target to produce thousands per month to provide to Ukraine to support its ongoing fight for freedom against Putin's illegal full-scale invasion.

Interceptor drones are considerably cheaper than regular air defence missiles and are proving to be highly effective in countering the waves of one-way attack drones Russia continues to launch at Ukraine's cities. They fly quickly to intercept incoming drones and missiles, destroying them before they reach their targets.

They will help Ukraine defend against aerial attacks such as Russia's reckless overnight attack against western Ukraine, which saw Poland and NATO scramble to intercept Russian drones that entered Polish airspace. The Prime Minister and Defence Secretary both condemned Russia's attack, voicing support for Poland.

The new tech sharing agreement has been made possible as a result of the growing industrial partnership between the UK and Ukraine, announced by the Prime Minister after meeting President Zelenskyy this summer. Last week, Defence Secretary John Healey visited Kyiv and signed an expansion to the partnership, allowing sharing and joint development of intellectual property.

The technology sharing arrangement is among the first of its kind signed with Ukraine, allowing for unprecedented collaboration between British and Ukrainian companies, in a move that provides options to expand industrial capacity and harness defence as an engine for growth - supporting investment and delivering on the government's Plan for Change.

It comes as the government announced hundreds of millions of pounds of new investment through the Defence Industrial Strategy this week to make defence an engine for growth, with £250 million of new funding to for new defence growth deals across the UK, and £182m to fund a new skills package to be delivered by five new defence technical excellence colleges, to train and upskill thousands of workers.

The Defence Secretary will hail the new strategy in his speech at the DSEI defence trade show in London on Thursday afternoon.

Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, said:

As Russia continues its egregious and unrelenting attacks on Ukraine, the UK's support will not falter, and we alongside our allies will continue to step up. This new partnership is a landmark moment, bringing together British and Ukrainian ingenuity to deliver cutting-edge defence drone technology to fight back against Russian aggression.

By harnessing the strength of our world-class defence industry, we are not only helping Ukraine defend itself against Putin's barbaric attacks, but we are also creating British jobs, driving growth, and securing our own future. This is all delivering on our Plan for Change.

Defence Secretary John Healey MP said:

The Strategic Defence Review set us the challenge to learn the lessons from the war in Ukraine. Through this groundbreaking industrial partnership with Ukraine, and our new Defence Industrial Strategy, we are revving up our world-leading defence industry. We will innovate at a wartime pace, support UK and Ukrainian security, and boost jobs here in Britain.

This deal is a first of its kind, giving UK industry unprecedented access to the latest equipment designs, supporting Ukraine in its fight to defend against Putin's illegal invasion and showing how defence can be an engine for growth as we deliver on our Plan for Change.

The Ukrainians continue to fight with huge courage, military and civilian alike. The UK will continue stepping up for to support them in the fight tonight, while we work together through the Coalition of the Willing to secure a just and lasting peace for Ukraine in the future.

The drone developed under Project OCTOPUS was designed by Ukraine with support from UK scientists and technicians and has already proved successful on the battlefield, proving highly effective against the Shahed one-way attack drone variants used by Russia - despite costing less than 10% to produce than the drones they are designed to intercept.

The Defence Secretary has hosted his Ukrainian counterpart, Denys Shmyhal, and other European Defence Ministers in London this week for the latest meeting of the 50-nation strong group dedicated to providing military support for Ukraine, co-led by the UK and Germany. During the Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting, he confirmed the UK-led International Fund for Ukraine had surpassed £2 billion in funding commitments from the UK and 11 other countries.

The growing industrial collaboration delivers on the 100-Year Partnership signed between the UK and Ukraine in January, while supporting the priorities set out by the Defence Secretary to ensure Ukraine is supported to defend itself against Putin's illegal invasion now, as well as to deter against threats in the future.

The Prime Minister and Defence Secretary have both highlighted how supporting Ukraine is essential to the security of Europe and the UK, with national security acting as a foundation of the government's Plan for Change.

The UK remains fully committed to securing a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and is engaging with key allies in support of this effort, which is why £4.5bn is being spent on military support to Ukraine this year, the largest amount provided to date. Last month on Ukrainian Independence Day, the Defence Secretary confirmed the UK's world-leading programme of training for Ukrainian recruits would continue through 2026.

In March, the Prime Minister announced a historic £1.6 billion deal to provide more than five thousand air defence missiles for Ukraine - creating 200 new jobs and supporting a further 700. The UK will also invest a record £350m this year to increase the supply of drones to Ukraine from a target of 10,000 in 2024 to 100,000 in 2025.

The government's new Defence Industrial Strategy will equip the UK workforce with the expertise needed to meet the new era of threat set out in the Strategic Defence Review and the demands of a rapidly evolving defence sector to innovate at a wartime pace.