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- Ukrainian arms production has expanded rapidly during war
- PM says domestic production tripled last year
- Says 65% more funds set aside for arms purchases in 2025
KYIV, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Ukraine can produce four million drones annually and is quickly ramping up its production of other weapons, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in comments authorised for publication on Wednesday.
Speaking on Tuesday to executives from dozens of foreign arms manufacturers in Kyiv, Zelenskiy said Ukraine had already contracted to produce 1.5 million drones this year.
Drone production was virtually non-existent in Ukraine before Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
I hope every million dollars worth of drones obliterates a billion dollars of Russia. And some orcs too.
I bet it can. These drones are a new war-of-volumes.
Even if you only have a 1 in 10, hell even a 1 in 20 connection rate of launched drone to hitting designated target. If each drone costs $300 to build and arm using commodity parts, but one hit can take out a high value T90M worth $4.5mil, that battlefield ROI is insanely high.
They usually use several drones to take out a T90. But it is still a good ROI.
What kind of drones are these? Sounds like they’re consumed when used, are they basically missiles/rockets with better control?
There are several types.
Spotter drones for surveillance and artillery correction. More expensive sensors. Sometimes can deploy other drones.
Grenade dropper drones. They drop several types of grenades. Sometimes several of them. Can be reloaded&reused.
Loitering munitions, basically drone guided artillery munitions. Also there are smaller ones with just grenades. They explode on contact/command. Not reused.