Марія Бровінська Weapon 25 June 2026, 08:25

"We once believed in drones. Now we have to believe in missiles." BlueBird Tech co-founder on the new stage of Ukrainian miltech, dependence on China and the shortage of engineers - 7 questions for the CEO

Ukrainian miltech has already proven its strength in drones to the world. The next big technological breakthrough could be missiles. In a new series of publications, dev.ua asks seven important questions to the leaders of Ukrainian defense tech companies. Today’s speaker is BlueBird Tech co-founder Valeriy Zarubin, with whom we talk about dependence on Chinese components, the shortage of engineers, the opening of R&D centers in Europe, and why Ukrainian IT should move from outsourcing to creating its own products.

— What is the biggest problem facing Ukrainian softtech right now? What pain is bothering your business the most right now?

I would avoid defining it as a «problem,» let’s say that the difficulties of Ukrainian miltech are financing and instability with the supply of components, in particular from China. In the case of BlueBird Tech, this has been one of the main «painful» topics for quite a long time.

Chinese suppliers sometimes accept payments, sometimes not. The situation is constantly changing, which is why we have to work through logistics or intermediary companies. But they also regularly have difficulties with making payments, so the entire system actually works in a mode of constant tension and expectations.

A separate problem is the volume of components themselves. When you scale production and plan to grow further, you immediately run into issues of financing and availability of components. You constantly have to fight for these components, and this directly affects the pace of production and the possibility of long-term planning.

Each company may have its own specific challenges, but for BlueBird Tech today, the stability of purchases and payments is one of the key factors.

— What technology is most overrated today? And what, on the contrary, is underrated?

You can’t say that something in Ukraine is undervalued or overvalued. We are in a state of major war and our military needs absolutely all the products that are manufactured in the country. In war conditions, everything is tested very quickly by the front. If the solution is really effective, the military, the state, and manufacturers immediately begin to invest resources in it, scale up production, and look for ways to apply it. If the technology doesn’t work, it very quickly loses market interest and something new is sought. Therefore, now the market and the front are quite rigidly weeding out everything unnecessary, and, to be honest, I don’t see any overvalued things.

I would add that sometimes we underestimate ourselves and our own technological capabilities. First of all, this applies to rocketry.

Ukraine has historically always developed this industry; we have a strong engineering school, experience, and specialists who are capable of creating complex technological solutions.

It seems to me that Ukrainian engineers, entrepreneurs, and society in general still do not fully realize how great our potential is in this area. Once we believed in our strength in the field of drones — and today the whole world knows about Ukrainian drones. Now we need to believe in our own capabilities in rocketry as well. If the country makes a bet on this area, it can bring Ukraine to a completely different technological level.

— Who is the most difficult person for you to hire and why? How do you solve this issue?

Hiring people is always difficult, but for us the key issue is not only hard skills, but also soft skills. We try to build a team of people who fit our values, approach to work, and are able to interact effectively within the team. Therefore, the issue of difficult interaction with specific people usually does not arise for us — we simply do not hire those who do not fit us culturally.

If we talk specifically about the shortage of specialists, then this is a problem that existed even before the full-scale war. Nothing radically new has happened here — there has always been a shortage of good engineers and there is a shortage now, especially for narrow-profile specialists.

And I think it will be like this for a long time. Now the biggest challenge is finding strong engineers for complex technological areas. But we do not perceive this as a problem without a solution. We are simply expanding the geography of the search. BlueBird Tech is opening R&D centers in EU countries, the first will be Poland, and we will expand geographically. Of course, the priority is Ukrainian engineers who live abroad and can help develop Ukrainian technologies. If we do not find the necessary expertise «among our own» — we are ready to attract engineers from other countries.

It is important for us not to just fill the vacancy, but to bring in people who will help build products and create a strong engineering infrastructure around us. If Ukrainian engineers grow alongside international specialists, learn from experience, and scale this knowledge, it will only strengthen the entire industry.

It is also important to support Ukrainian educational institutions and areas that train the necessary specialists. Without the development of its own engineering school, no miltech will be able to scale in the long term, which is why BlueBird Tech is leading the educational track. We already have partnerships with 6 technical educational institutions in Ukraine and this cooperation is expanding. Our engineers collaborate with students, give lectures and demonstrate today’s frontline demands.

— What skill or skills are currently the most valuable for an engineer in defense tech? Why?

We always first evaluate the person themselves — how they think, how they interact with the team, how ready they are to take responsibility and learn quickly. And only then do we look at technical expertise.

Of course, it is important to understand your field well and have a strong technical background. But technologies, products, and the very conditions of work are changing so rapidly that the ability to adapt is becoming the greatest value.

In defense tech, you constantly have to work in conditions of change — tasks, technologies, approaches, and requirements of the front are changing. Therefore, flexibility of thinking, the desire to understand a new direction, quickly find solutions, and take on new tasks are very important today.

We often have people from completely different fields come to us, and at first glance it may not be obvious how their experience can be useful for defense tech. But if a person has strong internal motivation, is able to adapt, and is ready to quickly dive into new directions, they can give a very strong result.

Therefore, to briefly summarize, today the most valuable skills for an engineer in defense tech are adaptability, flexibility of thinking, the ability to learn quickly and find solutions in new conditions.

— What does civilian IT misunderstand about military technology?

The main mistake of civilian IT regarding miltech is the perception of defense technologies as something slow, regulated, and far from the classic tech environment. In fact, today Ukrainian miltech is developing rapidly — it is often much faster development cycles, faster decision-making, and much more applied engineering.

In civilian IT, a product can be developed for months or years, going through dozens of stages of approval, testing, and changes. In defense tech, there is no such time, many solutions are tested literally immediately — and feedback comes directly from the front.

This is a completely different level of responsibility and speed.

— What will war be like in 2–3 years from a technological point of view?

I think that war in the next 2-3 years will move towards simplification of technologies and at the same time their mass distribution. We are already seeing that complex systems are becoming more accessible. What previously cost millions of dollars and required years of development can gradually become cheaper to the level of thousands and even hundreds of dollars. And this changes the very logic of war.

If we talk about the direction of development, the next stage is rockets and rocket technologies, which will become more accessible and technologically easier to produce thanks to new materials, 3D printing, and artificial intelligence.

Such technologies are already being developed, but over time they will become larger, as was the case with FPV drones, interceptor drones, strike drones, etc.

— What would you like to say to IT professionals who are hesitating whether or not to go to deftech?

I would say this: not all IT specialists should go into defense tech, and that’s okay. Ukrainian IT should develop in different directions, and strong product companies are needed no less than defense tech teams.

But there is one important point that, in my opinion, unites everything — the transition from a service model to a product model. Many Ukrainian IT companies still work as outsourcers: they take tasks from the customer and simply perform them. This is stable, but does not always lead to real development.

The greatest value now is when companies start building their own products and become known in the world through them. It’s harder, less obvious, and more expensive, but it’s what gives the greatest impact in the long run. And in this sense, defense tech simply showed an example: here you either build a product or you’re out of the game.

Therefore, my advice to IT professionals is not necessarily to change the industry. If you are already in a strong company, try to move it towards product thinking, creating your own solutions, and developing an engineering culture.

If you don’t find such development for yourself, then defense tech becomes a logical step. Because it’s a very fast-paced environment, constant challenges, and real engineering work on products that matter here and now.

And another important point: fear is a bad advisor in development. Defense tech is for those who are ready to work and develop.

Now even the army in Ukraine is changing a lot and in many cases is becoming very technological and engineering.

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