Ukraine should focus on exporting finished weapons, rather than transferring its own technologies abroad. Otherwise, the state risks losing the economic effect of production, taxes, and unique developments in the field of unmanned systems.
Ukraine should focus on exporting finished weapons, rather than transferring its own technologies abroad. Otherwise, the state risks losing the economic effect of production, taxes, and unique developments in the field of unmanned systems.
This was stated by Kirill Budanov during the Defense Tech Export Forum, AIN reports.
According to him, Ukraine has become a "legislator" in the field of unmanned technologies for the Western world, but competitors are already appearing on the market. The main task now is to prevent the uncoordinated export of technologies.
"If technology leaves the country with engineers who can set up this production elsewhere, the state does not receive anything. We just need to be clearly aware of this and speak about it honestly," Budanov emphasized.
He explained that exports are possible only in those segments where there is a certain surplus or where weapons are no longer so effective on the front. For example, the production of naval drones currently exceeds needs, so they can be sold abroad. The same applies to armored vehicles or individual drone models that have lost relevance due to the rapid development of electronic warfare.
At the same time, the uncontrolled sale of relevant weapons that the army needs will raise tough questions from both the military and foreign partners.
Separately, the official appealed to Ukrainian developers to invest in new areas. First of all, this concerns the integration of artificial intelligence, the creation of their own signal transmission systems, and the development of microelectronics. Budanov added that this is a complex and expensive issue that requires support at the government level and clear guarantees regarding future contracts.
We previously reported that 90% of Ukrainian defense industry companies received foreign requests for cooperation in 2026.
