“40,000 per month.” How Ukrainian TAF Drones reached mass production of drones in a year
The company's founder, Oleksandr Yakovenko, spoke about the company's incredible growth.
The company's founder, Oleksandr Yakovenko, spoke about the company's incredible growth.
Over the past year, the production of drones by Ukrainian TAF Drones has increased from 6,000 to 40,000, its founder Oleksandr Yakovenko told Forbes.
The company's revenue from drone production for the first half of 2024 amounted to $160 million. The company's revenue from importing spare parts during this time reached $500 million. For the whole year, the figures will reach $1 billion from components and $250 million from drones.
“Our first strategy is to mass-produce an easy-to-use product (FPV drones) at a minimum price to fill the front line with weapons. However, such a strategy is utopian: mass production will end as soon as the fighting subsides. Therefore, we are now transforming into an innovative technology company,” says Yakovenko.
According to him, the miltech market has tripled since 2023. “Now the private sector is $1.5–2 billion per year. I predict that next year there will be no growth, as well as a global decline. If the state chooses the right strategy, then "The size of the industry in 2030 could be approximately $10 billion," says the founder of TAF Drones.
In his opinion, the biggest problem of our miltech now is that state-owned companies have deep expertise in developing technological solutions, but they are not fast and not always effective.
“Teams like mine can move much faster than state-owned ones, but we lack experience in long-term developments, such as engines that last 5–10 years,” said Oleksandr Yakovenko.
Recall that earlier the entrepreneursaid that his company is working on developing joint production and development with foreign technology companies. There are already two companies among the partners, but the entrepreneur has not yet disclosed their names.
At the time, TAF Drones planned to launch a system with an FPV and reconnaissance drone and its own remote control software by the end of the year. In addition, the company's developments include its own secure communication for video transmission and telemetry.
TAF Drones has scaled production almost 7 times in a year and plans to transform into an innovative technology company. Here's what's known about their strategy
TAF Drones has scaled production almost 7 times in a year and plans to transform into an innovative technology company. Here's what's known about their strategy
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