Ukraine’s Combat-Tested Drone Solutions Gain Ground in New European Platform

The Dutch startup Intelic has announced the launch of Intelic BASE, a project designed to help defense departments acquire drones more efficiently.

This platform addresses the fragmentation of defense procurement in Europe, which has slowed down deployment and limited transparency in weapon selection, as reported by Defense Express on May 6.

Maurits Korthals Altes, CEO of Intelic, noted that Europe currently has the industrial potential for UAV production. The platform aims to shorten the path for these drones to reach military units.

Conceptually, Intelic BASE follows the model of the Ukrainian Brave1 Market. It functions as a marketplace for drones where manufacturers list their products with technical specifications and prices. Defense departments from various countries can then select the most suitable solutions.

Intelic representatives acknowledge that Intelic BASE is modeled after the Ukrainian system for drone procurement. At its launch, the platform includes manufacturers from ten countries, including France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Portugal, Latvia, Luxembourg, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine, according to Defense Express.

Ukraine is represented on the platform by TAF Industries and other unnamed partners. They offer a wide range of products, including reconnaissance, strike, and anti-aircraft drones. Recently, TAF Industries has expanded its European partnerships, including joint production agreements with the Finnish Summa Defense and the German company Thyra.

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While Intelic claims its platform is the first of its kind in Europe, France previously discussed creating a similar marketplace. However, the French project appears to be intended specifically for its own military, while Intelic positions its solution as a broad European platform, as Defense Express wrote.

The United States was the first to adopt the Ukrainian Brave1 Market model with its Unmanned Aircraft Systems Marketplace. This platform allows military units to choose the best solutions from a list of drones provided by various manufacturers.

Previously, Brave1 officially announced the return of its massive Defense Tech Valley summit, declaring 2026 as the year of “Global Scaling” for Ukraine’s defense technology sector. The event was scheduled to take place in September in Lviv, building on the success of the 2025 summit which had secured $100 million in investments.

Organizers emphasized that Ukraine had evolved into an independent "drone superpower" and was no longer just a testing ground for Western weapons. In its announcement, Brave1 highlighted that Ukrainian manufacturers were disrupting the traditional military industry through joint production agreements with American and European partners.

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