The partnership will give the UK access to critical Ukrainian expertise in counter-drone technology.

Ukraine and the UK are joining forces to mass-produce a new uncrewed counter-drone capability to rapidly support Ukrainian operations in its ongoing war with Russia, the UK Secretary of State for Defence John Healey has announced.

Speaking at DSEI UK 2025 in London on 11 September, Healey said the system is “a small uncrewed interceptor drone, one that has [already] proved highly effective in taking down [Russian] Shahed one-way attack drones.”

Shahed is an Iranian-designed drone Russia is now building and using in significant numbers on the battlefield. In turn, Ukraine is developing a network of different capabilities to counter it.

Healey said the new capability, known as ‘Project Octopus’, has evolved around Ukrainian engineers using “a piece of drainpipe” to build a system that costs less than 10% of the systems it is targeting. “Wartime necessity really is the mother of constant invention,” he added.

The UK will mass-produce this new capability, through what Healey referred to as “a new agreement for a first-of-its-kind partnership” signed between the two countries.

“Through Project Octopus, with this drone, our Ukrainian friends will share the technology and intellectual property with the UK. In turn, together, we’ll rapidly develop this further and then mass-produce it, supplying thousands of interceptor drones back into Ukraine each month,” Healey explained.

“For Ukraine, this means they can better protect their people, their homeland...for Britain, it means we have access to the best and developing battlefield technology for our own forces.”

Healey said the system is a world-leading, combat-tested invention, with the partnership allowing the UK to bring, in turn, its expertise in robotics and advanced manufacturing to develop the capability further. “Then we can help mass produce at scale,” he added.

Should the combined programme prove effective, Healey explained that the partnering could then enable the two countries to work on other weaponry – like long-range drones – which both countries require at scale.

The defence secretary emphasised that the agreement marks the next step in strengthening UK–Ukraine ties, fostering closer cooperation across their defence industrial bases. It builds on an announcement in early September by Ukrainian drone manufacturer Ukrspecsystems, which is investing GBP200 million in two new facilities in East Anglia, UK. The latter agreement marked the first major investment by a Ukrainian defence company into the UK, Healey said.