The opening of the plant in the United Kingdom marks a new stage in cooperation between the Ukrainian and British defense industries. It will strengthen supply chain resilience, reduce risks associated with potential attacks on Ukrainian facilities, and increase drone production for frontline needs.
The project also has political significance, demonstrating confidence in Ukrainian technologies and the willingness of allies to invest in joint defense manufacturing.
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"Ukraine is fighting under constant missile strikes, infrastructure destruction, and threats to manufacturing facilities. Yet our engineers develop solutions born directly from frontline experience. They improve systems not through theoretical research but through real combat use," Zaluzhnyi said.
He emphasized that launching production in the United Kingdom has clear strategic logic.
"This is not a shift of the center of gravity away from Ukraine. It is an expansion of our joint capabilities and the creation of a second resilience layer to ensure continuity of production. We are keeping the engineering center in Ukraine while integrating manufacturing into the British defense ecosystem. We are creating a new level of partnership in which allies not only support each other but also build a shared industrial security base," the ambassador explained.
According to Zaluzhnyi, the project provides Ukraine with greater stability and long-term planning capability. For the United Kingdom, it strengthens the national defense industry, provides access to technologies tested in modern warfare, and creates jobs.
He stressed that the engineering center remains in Ukraine, while the British facility will become part of an integrated defense production system.
"This is an example of how combat experience can be rapidly translated into industrial solutions and national security. This event is not only economic or technological in nature; it also carries strategic and even civilizational significance. We are effectively laying the foundation for a new European security architecture," Zaluzhnyi concluded.
Ukrspecsystems has operated since 2014 and is considered one of Ukraine's leading developers of unmanned technologies. Its products are widely used on the battlefield and have demonstrated effectiveness in the high-tech war against russian aggression.
Among the company's best-known systems are the PD-2 reconnaissance drone, Gekata, and the Shark family of UAVs, which perform surveillance, reconnaissance, and artillery fire adjustment missions.
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