Great Britain and Ukraine have agreed to start joint defense projects, including the production of interceptor drones and cruise bombs. This was announced by the Minister of Defense Readiness and Industry of Great Britain, Luke Pollard, at the Defense Industry Forum in Kyiv, reports Bloomberg.
Production of drones to intercept enemy strike drones of the “Shaheed” provided within the scope of the project “Octopus”. According to Luke Pollard, at the initial stage, series production will take place in Great Britain; expect that already at the first stages it will be possible to provide approximately 2 thousand drones per month, which will be transferred to Ukraine to counter Russian strikes.
The minister emphasized that production lines will be set up flexibly to quickly adapt to changes on the battlefield:
“The UK is a leader in research, development and advanced manufacturing, so we can add what our Ukrainian friends lack in this regard. We must act quickly to be the first.
One of the priorities for Ukraine is the creation of interceptors that can autonomously target a target and destroy it before reaching the object. According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi, in September Russia launched almost 6,900 drones over Ukraine, more than half of which were “Shahedy”, and most of them were destroyed by interceptors.
In addition to drones, Britain and Ukraine also plan to organize the joint production of hovering aerial bombs; according to Pollard, such cooperation will help create the technologies necessary to deter Russia and strengthen Europe’s defense capabilities.
“We are starting with drones for obvious reasons, but overall Ukraine is a key partner for us in creating the technologies needed to rearm Europe”, added Luke Pollard.
