The European Union will meet for the first time the European and Ukrainian drone industry on September 11, in Brussels. This will be the first meeting of the EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance, created by the European Commission to bring together the EU and Ukraine's defense industry and accelerate the development of drone and anti-drone systems capabilities.
The group is composed of 19 companies, nine European and nine Ukrainian. Among the European companies are the Spanish Indra Group, the Italian Fincantieri, the German Quantum Systems, the Danish Terma, the Polish WB Group, the French Delair, the Croatian ORQA, the Dutch Destinus and the Lithuanian RSI Europe. On the Ukrainian side, companies such as Skyfall Industries, Greentech Harvest, Tencore, Deviro, VyriyIndustry, ATHLON AVIA, TAF Industries, UFORCE and F-Drones participate.
The meeting will serve to define strategic priorities, areas of technological cooperation and future joint projects. The partnership could benefit from up to 10 billion euros in unused funds from the SAFE program, according to industry sources.
The initiative seeks to combine Ukraine's experience in the use of drones in combat with European industrial capacity. According to Simonas Šatūnas, chief of staff to Kubilius, Europe is trying to learn from the Ukrainians how the drone ecosystem works and how government and industry work together. The goal is to create conditions to develop and produce next-generation systems, integrating the so-called Drone Deal between Brussels and Kiev.
