Ukraine's defense ministry allocates $1 billion for FPV drones, including fiber-optic models
In 2025, the Ministry of Defense plans to spend 44 billion UAH ($1 billion) on procuring FPV drones, including fiber-optic models, as announced by Hlib Kanevskyi, head of the ministry's procurement policy department.
According to him, a key task this year is to secure a technological edge over Russian forces.
"If last year the main financial resources were allocated to acquiring long-range deep-strike weapons, this year over 44 billion UAH is planned for purchasing FPV drones, including fiber-optic models," the official stated.
Kanevskyi shared this information during a meeting with representatives of the Technological Forces of Ukraine union—an association of leading manufacturers of innovative weaponry.
During the event, participants discussed scaling up production and supplying unmanned systems to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as simplifying bureaucratic procedures to expedite the integration of new drone models into military operations.
The meeting also focused on reducing the time it takes to deliver drones from production to combat units and expanding the pool of defense suppliers and manufacturers.
- Fiber-optic drones help counter enemy electronic warfare systems, but they are also more expensive due to the cost of fiber-optic cables. Both Ukrainian defenders and Russian occupiers use these drones.
- In December 2024, communication expert and head of the Center for Radio Technologies, Beskrestnov, told LIGA.net that Russian forces are rapidly scaling up the use of fiber-optic drones, as they do with all effective solutions. These drones are deployed when an objective must be destroyed at any cost.
- In January, Ukraine's Defense Ministry conducted a demonstration test of FPV drones controlled via fiber optics.
