“We Don’t Do Loud PR — We Work for the Front Line”: An Interview with UKRSPECSYSTEMS UK Managing Director Rory Chamberlain

Ukrainian miltech manufacturer Ukrspecsystems, best known for its combat-proven drones, is investing £200 million (around $250 million) into a new plant in Mildenhall, where the company intends to localize production of systems that have demonstrated their effectiveness on the Ukrainian battlefield. We spoke with Rory Chamberlain, Managing Director of UKRSPECSYSTEMS UK, about the company’s mission, its expansion strategy, and the lessons the UK can take from Ukraine’s defence-tech ecosystem.

You are heading UKRSPECSYSTEMS UK. What is the company’s mission in Britain?

Our mission is to bring the best experience out of Ukraine and really bring it to the UK in a big way. I’m proud to be part of Ukrspecsystems.  I’m excited by everything that they’ve done and continue to do. They really are leaders. And I think the UK recognizes Ukraine as a whole as a leader in the UAV domain, and Ukrspecsystems as one of those leaders within Ukraine. 

So it’s fantastic that we’ve come to the UK to show our technology, show our equipment, show everything that we’ve learned, and bring that to the UK and show this to the UK and its allies. That’s the direction we’re moving in.

I’m sat in our production facility.  It’s all here and real and, and there’s a lot of work going on with the team to get the facility commissioned and in place.  It’s all fantastic work.

Ukrspecsystems in Ukraine has grown from being a small team to being over thousands of people.  That growth has been massive, based on their success, on how they’ve approached the problems, and on how they’ve solved them so quickly.

I want to bring that pace, that development cycle, to the UK, because we need to change the way defense works there to meet the threat we have so clearly seen.

Production in the UK

Let’s talk about the new plant. Has production in Mildenhall already begun? What are your investment plans?

I’m in the facility right now. Investment has started, and we do have a plan over five years to grow. We do have an airfield where we are currently putting in a specific UAV runway, which is fantastic.

There are other sites that we are looking at within the expansion plan, but it’s, it starts here in Mildenhall.

We’ve been working with the local education establishments as well, and again, it’s about thinking deeper than just the product, but it’s about the whole ecosystem and the whole ecosystem that has developed in Ukraine so quickly.

If you really want to learn the lessons of Ukraine, you need to go back to the educational principles and the types of engineers. Ukraine has its best engineers working in defense, that’s without a shadow of a doubt. The best engineers want to be excited about working in defense now, and we want to bring those best people in.

UAVs are the new technology and the way we are bringing AI, this is where we can really harness the education side of things and really get the younger generation excited about working in this domain.

There’s a short-term plan to commission the production facility. But then there’s a long-term plan of how to make a real change in defense for the UK, but it also so it supports Ukraine as well.

This is about the security of supply: a secure energy infrastructure already in place in the UK that can support Ukraine now and in the future.

Key milestones

What are the main milestones of the production project?

The first one is to what we call to be commissioned. We expect to be commissioned early in the new year. After that, the key focus is on developing our engineering capacity.  And then the next milestone is to develop the engineering side.

As much as the bulk of the R&D will be in Ukraine, that’s where the bulk of the engineers are. R&D will be here to harmonize things like NATO standards and start putting them into the product, then gather feedback and establish the link with Ukraine, because it’s very much a joint endeavor to create common products. We want to avoid different billing standards and customer expectations.

When will manufacturing physically begin?

We haven’t started yet. There are some steps we need to go through. There are steps concerning export approval for the transfer of technology.  We are working with the UK and Ukrainian governments on the transfer of technology, ensuring it’s done in the right way and aligned with the priorities of both governments.

There are just steps, work, and bureaucracy that have to happen to make sure it’s all done the right way, and we support that. We are doing everything to be ready for that. Our motto is “in advance”.  So we’re here to be ready, in advance.

We’re not the key decision-makers on that, but we’re here to do everything we can to be ahead of the curve so we can support the soldiers on the front line right now.

We have to be ready for every eventuality.  And this is one way through secure energy, a secure supply chain, and a secure site in the UK, where we can support if needed.

Ukrainian engineers and R&D

Will you hire Ukrainian engineers for R&D in the UK?

I think so, that may happen in the future. But it’s more complex than that. For people to get visas to come and work in the UK, it’s much more complex.

For me, in my past, in my defense industry, I’ve worked internationally, and it’s allowed me to grow as a professional, see different cultures. Ukrspecsystems is growing internationally, and I think there’s a fantastic opportunity for Ukrainian engineers to gain some international experience, and right across the business, really, in all the different roles.

But I think the bulk of R&D will still be in Ukraine. The regulatory framework supports it, access to airspace, just the understanding, and the tempo. Right now, the pacesetter in development is Ukraine.  So it wouldn’t make sense to bring it to the UK. It makes much more sense for it to be in Ukraine, where it can still set the pace.

Education and training programmes

You mentioned cooperation with universities. Are you developing your own programs?

The plan is to do that with the support of the local education establishments.  We will come in, and we will also provide courses.  We will provide our learning and information to those who are in the local area. 

It goes into the ecosystem of other UAV manufacturers or parts of the supply chain. And whether that supports Ukrspecsystems or whether that supports the ecosystem, that’s just something we’re looking at.

It’s that, bringing that understanding at a young age.  We can start that introduction at different levels of get, make, create an interest, develop that interest, and educate them as they go through.

And we’re also looking at veteran support programs as well. Where we can generate a program for veterans before they leave service that gets them ready for the UAV domain.

We will match that with apprenticeships and graduates as well. But we also want a deeper benefit — the new curricula and standards that this new industry will expect.

Advantages of Production in the UK

What advantages does producing in the UK provide?

I’ve already spoken about the resilience angle. And that is, first and foremost, a secure supply chain, secure energy, and resilience that we can support Ukraine now and in the future.

Access to the different standards within NATO as well. There’s that feedback loop of what we will learn from being here, and that’s already happening.

We start looking at supporting the UK military and other NATO countries, and we get to see what their expectations are. Sometimes, there is a gap in that expectation.

NATO has woken up that Ukraine is a leader, I think militarily, people see Ukraine as a leader. We need to add challenge to some of those NATO standards in the right way, to see whether they have the balance right or are not fit for purpose.

That’s a benefit of us being in the UK, as we get to have that dialogue that Ukraine itself can’t have, but Ukrspecsystems, as a UK company, can have.

Misconceptions about Ukraine

Are there misconceptions about Ukraine and your products?

There are two ways I can imagine it, like a fog of war, or I imagine it like ice.

Both the industry and defense press are talking about the gifted equipment. The noise around that doesn’t match the actual work being done in Ukraine, where we are seeing the tip of the iceberg of the equipment gifted and the results it has achieved. And I think that’s the fog.

When I have my interactions with other companies and other industries, defense, military, the first thing they say is “Wow, you’re that big. You’re producing that many. Oh, we had no idea”. That’s the first kind of wow moment they have.

I think the first misconception is just the depth and growth, and I think the UK, because of our partnership with Ukraine, there’s a really good understanding there.

I think that’s one of the reasons why we chose the UK is that the relationship is very strong, is going to endure, and we’re going to be fundamental to making sure that it does endure.

So another misconception is that the technology is about what is publicly shown to us. Lots of FPVs everywhere, that’s great, but the sophisticated systems don’t get the airtime. Ukrspecsystems has sophisticated systems, is well-integrated, and offers the open architecture that militaries in the West want. It has the method of development and the close working with the user that is desperately needed in NATO.

I think those are some of the misconceptions, and we are working against them. We are working to change that mind and lift that fog. There’s a lot of work to do.

There are lots of other companies that still rightly want to show what they’ve done in Ukraine, and that’s fine, but we, and other Ukrainian industries, also need to show what we’ve done. I’m sure that we will see that in the future, honestly.

Is there still a stereotype that Ukraine is “just an agricultural country”?

Me personally, I don’t have that feeling at all. The people I’ve interacted with don’t have that feeling either.

This is changing very rapidly, and I think that’s maybe 12 months out of date now.

From what I see in the UK, it’s very much Ukraine is a leader in the UAV space.

And it’s the ability to have the right technology producing at the right quantity at the right price. You’ve got to hit all three. It’s very easy to have great technology, but it’s super expensive and tough to make, and that will not win a war. You have to get the balance right. And Ukraine has struck the balance really well.

That’s what NATO is fighting with right now is trying to find the balance. There are lots of different companies trying to say they’ll solve that, but Ukraine has solved it, solved it for itself. And now’s the opportunity to really demonstrate that and show it to NATO.

What makes Ukrspecsystems unique

It’s the fact that it just does the job, it just works. There are many companies struggling right now to get anywhere close to the performance of Ukrspecsystems.

Every Ukrainian military person I’ve come across speaks highly of Ukrspecsystems, which makes me very proud to work for them.

They are definitely seen as a leader in Ukraine. That’s where we’ve got a really strong, battle-proven advantage.

And again, it’s the iceberg, it’s the fog of war that Ukraine understands it.

We don’t show everything. We don’t go very loud as to what we do. I think the team is laser-focused on delivering for those soldiers on the front line, and that’s the right thing to do. And I’d rather the team be doing that than speaking about a demonstration in a big, loud way and putting the press all around the world for not much value. I think we’ve got to spend our value on the R&D, and the R&D will deliver the right products, and that will keep us ahead of the competition.

Markets and expansion

Which markets are you targeting?

We’re looking at the UK and NATO, and at supporting other NATO countries along the eastern flank as well.  That’s the first partnership that we’re looking for.

Globally, where there is definitely interest, we are looking at how we support those, and whether that is similar to here, Ukrspecsystems is going to put in its manufacturing establishment alone or through partnerships.

But we are cautious about how we choose our partnerships. It’s very easy just to have a JV.  I’ve got a JV with a random company. But is that company going to add value in the right way that I need them to do we overlap in any way? These are the questions that we have to ask ourselves.

So we look for partners where we all support each other, and there’s no overlap. We are collaborating, and we’re strong in the independent areas that brings the best JV.

There are a lot of interesting technologies that we can now access, and partnerships we can develop. With those in the defense ecosystem that already exists in the UK, that can benefit for both sides in the UK and in Ukraine as well. So we’re looking at growing, growing those partners as well.

Dual-use technologies and upcoming products

Which technologies will you bring to market in the next year?

It’s the Sharks because they are the icons. It’s the mini Sharks and the PD2 as well. They are fantastic systems, so we are looking at them first.

To me, the PD-2 is like a Swiss Army knife, a multi-tool. Seeing that video of PD2 transporting the heart and it’s still being viable at the end — that’s the potential of PD2.

It has performed search-and-rescue missions, and ISR is already on the front line. There are lots of critical national infrastructure that these kinds of systems can do. There is the medical side, the search-and-rescue side; those are three areas where our systems can support as well.

We are also working on the component side of our business as well. We have a whole business that makes the gimbal cameras, the launches, and the parachutes. I like to say from launch to landing, we’ve got you covered.

A part of our UK strategy is also to bring all those components to the UK to help other UAV manufacturers in a completely agnostic way, we will support anybody. We’re also open to building other people’s UAVs and doing R&D for them. If they have a particular use case, a particular performance, they are searching, we can support that, we can test it, we can trial it, and then we can produce it for them as well.

The gimbal cameras we make have those use cases as well. Those are the kinds of things we can bring to NATO and Europe as options for the future.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. The full video version is available on the Militarnyi’s English-language YouTube channel.