American defense startups have teamed up with Ukrainian manufacturers to develop advanced drones for the US military, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The media notes that U.S. startups have spent billions of venture capital dollars in hopes of developing the small drones that the Pentagon says it needs for future conflicts, but many have produced only expensive aircraft that don’t fly very well.

Ukrainian drone makers, meanwhile, have mastered mass-producing drones despite limited resources and are looking for new customers and capital. Now, both sides are coming together, and this cooperation is attracting the attention of the U.S. Department of Defense.

“No American company is keeping up with Ukraine. Their developments work perfectly, and they have the best laboratory for testing all models in combat conditions,” Nathan Mintz, co-founder of the Southern California startup CX2, which last year signed an agreement to install its software and sensors on Ukrainian drones for combat testing, stated.

The WSJ article notes that the Pentagon’s growing interest in Ukrainian drones underscores the challenges faced by American drone developers and highlights Ukraine’s remarkable advancements since the Russian invasion. However, despite the defense department’s emphasis on the importance and funding priority of small autonomous drones, these sentiments have yet to ignite a boom in the American drone industry.

Americans are also interested in the rapid scaling of Ukraine’s new developments. According to Pentagon estimates, American manufacturers can produce up to 100,000 drones annually. In comparison, Ukraine manufactured over two million drones last year, including those capable of flying hundreds of kilometers and used for strikes on targets deep within Russia.

Cooperation

The publication is confident that the collaboration between the U.S. and Ukraine in drone development is likely to continue despite talks about a possible end to the Russian-Ukrainian war.

“Any twists in diplomacy are unlikely to disrupt the connection that has formed between American and Ukrainian drone manufacturing startups or overturn the efforts of the Department of Defense to implement better innovations from Ukraine,” Pentagon officials and startup founders shared with the WSJ.

The publication notes that to make the drone sector a catalyst for Ukraine’s economic growth after the war, Ukrainian companies want to have American customers and investors.

“Ukraine has made it pretty clear that it intends to be the drone capital of the world when this war is over,” said Derek Whitley, co-founder of Vivum, a startup that sells its AI software for autonomous systems to the Pentagon.

The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), which develops new technologies for the military, has reportedly signed contracts with two Ukrainian-American partnerships for the first time in recent weeks. The companies will test their long-range strike drones this spring in Ukraine, where they are manufactured, and then will be able to compete for contracts from the U.S. Department of Defense.

The DIU also added a Ukrainian drone manufacturer to the list of approved potential suppliers for the US Army for the first time.

At the same time, according to the WSJ, there are obstacles to bringing Ukrainian drones to the global market, not least due to restrictions on drone exports in Ukraine. Therefore, Ukrainian drone manufacturers have banded together to lobby Kyiv to lift the ban on their sale outside the country and are working with their new American partners to find workarounds.

Another potential problem for Ukrainian manufacturers is that they often rely on spare parts from China, and to sell drones to the Pentagon, they will have to look for suppliers in other countries.