The UK and Latvia have opened a competition for companies to supply thousands of first person view (FPV) drones to Ukraine, as part of the Drone Capability Coalition for Ukraine, according to a press release from the Ministry of Defence.
In February, the UK and Latvia announced the formation of the Drone Capability Coalition, aimed at rapidly providing Ukraine with tens of thousands of FPV drones.
Today marks the beginning of the bidding process for companies to produce these drones on behalf of the coalition. The goal is to manufacture the drones at scale and at an affordable price, capitalising on the strengths of Western industry.
Details for application are available via the Defence Sourcing Portal, and the competition is open to industry participants from any nation in the Ukraine Defence Contact Group. Companies have until 28 June 2024 to submit their proposals.
The Drone Capability Coalition members will evaluate the submissions, and successful companies will receive orders to supply drones to Ukraine. Positive operational feedback could lead to larger follow-up orders. Additional competitions for FPV drones are expected throughout 2024, building on the insights gained from this initial competition.
First person view drones have demonstrated significant effectiveness on the battlefield since Russia’s full-scale invasion, giving Ukrainian operators enhanced situational awareness to target enemy positions, armoured vehicles, and ships with explosive ordnance.
The coalition comprises the UK, Latvia, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and Ukraine, with more countries considering joining the initiative.
Thread drift. Chris Cappy over on Task and Purpose quoting THIRTY challies in Estonia!
Point to note, he was actually deployed to Latvia. Inside intel?
Mate, you do know that UK leads there on a NATO eFP mission (Op CABRIT) and has done since 2016? eFP was a response to the Russian invasion of Crimea. We lead a multi-national BG of 2,200, which has had since its start, troops from UK (800-900), Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, USA. Current mix, according to the army website, is UK (lead/framework nation), Danish, French, Estonian troops. I think there have been two sqns of Challies there (plus 2 spares) for a very long time. We also have a Lt Cav Sqn in Poland under a US-led BG, also an… Read more »
Excellent News!
Interesting who is not on the list – yes you guessed it, those wonderful underachievers…..France, Italy and Spain…..