Bloomberg: Ukraine Now Produces More Military Drones Than NATO Combined

Ukraine’s drone industry is rapidly expanding into Europe, driven by the ongoing war with Russia and rising demand from NATO members, according to a Bloomberg report published on November 11.

Bloomberg highlights that Oleksandr Hrachov, CEO of leading Ukrainian drone manufacturer TSIR, is building a drone assembly line in Finland as part of a strategic shift to move production out of the warzone and into NATO territory. The new facility, developed in partnership with Finnish firm Summa Defence Plc, is expected to produce tactical drones for both Ukrainian forces and allied militaries.

According to Bloomberg, this move is part of a broader trend. Ukrainian firms, including members of the FlyWell drone consortium, are raising $50 million to fund additional production and R&D projects across Europe, including hydrogen-powered UAVs. Summa Defence has already prototyped three drone models that await battlefield testing in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s battlefield innovations are now informing NATO’s military planning. Citing analysts, Bloomberg notes that Ukraine produces up to 4 million drones annually—including long-range strike drones and cheap, agile FPV models—significantly more than the estimated 100,000 military drones made yearly in the United States.

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Bloomberg also notes the broader European shift toward collaboration with Ukrainian defense firms. Skyeton, a Ukrainian drone manufacturer specializing in long-endurance UAVs, has attracted €10 million in foreign investment and established production in Slovakia, Denmark, and the UK. Fire Point, the developer of Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missile, is now building a rocket fuel plant in Denmark.

Denmark alone has committed $77 million this year to support Ukrainian arms production on its territory, Bloomberg reports. Meanwhile, Ukraine plans to open arms export offices in Berlin and Copenhagen, signaling a shift toward international sales of its combat-tested weaponry.

Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, speaking at a drone conference in Lviv, said Ukraine has grown from just 10 drone producers in 2022 to more than 500 in 2025. “You are not in the global defense tech market if your product has not been tested in Ukraine,” Bloomberg quotes him as saying.

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RAND Corporation analyst Michael Bohnert told Bloomberg that Ukraine currently fields “probably more drone varieties than all NATO countries combined.” He emphasized that post-war, Ukraine’s low-cost, high-output production model could transform NATO’s approach to unmanned warfare.

As Bloomberg notes, Hrachov and others are already preparing for a future in which Ukraine’s drone industry not only defends its homeland but also becomes a core supplier to NATO. “We’re not starting from scratch—we’re jumping on a moving train,” said Summa CEO Jussi Holopainen.

Ukraine’s wartime innovations, according to Bloomberg, are setting a new standard for drone warfare—one that blends speed, scalability, and affordability in ways traditional Western defense contractors are now trying to emulate.

Earlier, it was reported that Belgium enlisted support from international military partners to help monitor and respond to unauthorized drone activity detected in its airspace.

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