UK launch first production site on its territory for Ukraine’s drones with 300 km flight range

The first Ukrainian defense manufacturing site has begun operations in the UK, a production facility of Ukrspecsystems. Ukrainian Ambassador to the UK Valerii Zaluzhnyi has announced the launch and said it has a clear strategic rationale, as it creates a “second resilience loop,” ensuring production continuity even during wartime.

Founded in 2014, the company specializes in unmanned aerial systems, communications systems, and ISR payloads for aerial reconnaissance and fire adjustment.

The engineering competence center remains in Ukraine, while production is integrated into Britain’s defense ecosystem, a new level of partnership in which allies jointly build the industrial base of security.

This is not relocating production from Ukraine

“The launch in the UK is not a shift of the center of gravity away from Ukraine. It is an expansion of our joint capabilities,” Zaluzhnyi emphasizes.

Ukrainian technologies are in demand in the West because their engineering solutions are shaped by frontline experience rather than purely lab-based R&D.

Under the cooperation model, engineering teams stay in Ukraine while manufacturing scales in partnership with the UK defense ecosystem.

This strengthens supply-chain resilience, reduces the risk of production stoppages, and accelerates allies’ access to combat-proven technologies.

SHARK, MINI SHARK 2025, and PD-2: which Ukrainian drones scale up in Britain

One of the company’s best-known products is the SHARK ISR drone family developed during the full-scale war. It combines long-range communications with modern optics to detect enemy positions and improve targeting accuracy.

The platform is also used for civilian missions (aerial surveying, agromonitoring, SAR, and infrastructure inspection).

Key parameters (generalized) of the SHARK-D UAS:

• Endurance: up to 4 hours
• Link range: up to 80 km
• Max altitude: up to 3,000 m
• Takeoff weight: up to 13.5 kg
• Route length: up to 300 km
• Deployment time: short
• Operating cost: low
• Export restrictions: ITAR-free
• Use cases: border control, powerline/pipeline inspection, aerial survey, agromonitoring, SAR, public safety

The company also unveiled the upgraded MINI SHARK 2025, a compact tactical ISR platform positioned as a potential replacement for mass commercial quadcopters.

It can stay airborne for up to 3 hours and 45 minutes with an operational radius of up to 60 km. The lineup further includes the multi-role PD-2 VTOL system and compact solutions for оперативні (rapid-response) tasks.

Why frontline technologies are becoming allies' products

Ukrainian designs evolve under real combat pressure, compressing innovation cycles. Integrating production in Britain unlocks scaling, certification pathways, and joint R&D programs, strengthening defense industrial cooperation and the competitiveness of Europe’s defense sector.