From Six Months to Ten Days: How Digitalization, Interceptors, and Large Contracts Are Reshaping Ukraine’s Defense Industry
The year 2025 became a point at which Ukraine’s defense industry moved from isolated technological successes to a systemic model. This is not only about scaling drone production or introducing new types of weapons, but about a deeper shift in the logic of procurement, management, and the way Ukraine is perceived as a defense manufacturer both domestically and internationally.
One of the most illustrative changes was the launch of the state digital logistics and supply system DOT-Chain Defence. Just a year ago, military units could wait up to six months for drone deliveries. In 2025, this timeframe was reduced to around 10 days. Crucially, these are not generic deliveries, but precisely configured systems tailored to the specific request of a unit.
This was outlined at the conference “DOU Live: What 2025 Has Been Like for Ukraine’s Defense Sector” by Andrii Lavrynovych, Director of Human Resources at the FPV drone manufacturer “General Chereshnia”. According to him, the decisive factor was the role of state digital tools, which removed excessive bureaucracy and allowed military units to directly order the drones they need.
Reducing the logistics cycle from six months to ten days is not merely an administrative improvement. In wartime conditions, it means faster adaptation to enemy tactics, fewer losses, and the ability to equip units based on real frontline needs rather than outdated plans.
Alongside the digitalization of supply, 2025 clearly marked a new technological phase the transition from mass FPV production to system-level solutions, primarily interceptor drones and ground robotic complexes. Lavrynovych notes that for “General Chereshnia”, 2025 became a year of development and consolidation in this segment. The company was among the first to actively invest in interceptor drones, and already in February began testing the “General Chereshnia Air” model.
The results of this approach are confirmed by battlefield data. According to Lavrynovych, for four consecutive months this drone has ranked number one in successful engagements, based on data from the “Delta” system. This is a key indicator: the effectiveness of Ukrainian developments is measured not in presentations, but in combat tracking systems.
The market for interceptor drones in 2025, according to manufacturers, is growing rapidly, and demand is only set to increase. Ukraine is increasingly moving from reactive defense toward structured countermeasures against aerial threats, requiring both tactical and strategic solutions.
This internal transformation is accompanied by a shift in international perception of Ukraine. Anatolii Khrabchynskyi, Director of Development at a defense enterprise and a reserve officer of the Air Force, states plainly that in 2025 Ukraine began to be seen as a full-fledged research and development hub, creating technologies directly from battlefield experience.
According to him, global interest is increasingly focused on Ukrainian solutions in the fields of interceptor drones, electronic warfare systems, navigation technologies, and command and control. He also highlights high-profile operations conducted by Ukrainian special services, including Operation “Spiderweb” and the strike on a Russian shadow fleet vessel in the Mediterranean Sea, which demonstrated a new level of technological capability.
Particularly telling is the change in how partners frame their questions. Where previously the dominant question was “what can we provide to Ukraine”, it is now increasingly replaced by “what can we obtain from Ukraine”. As an example, Khrabchynskyi cites Poland’s willingness to discuss exchanging MiG-29 fighter jets for Ukrainian counter-drone technologies. This signals that battlefield validation of Ukrainian products has become the highest possible level of credibility.
Another defining dimension of 2025 is the economic growth of defense manufacturers. According to Volodymyr Zinovskyi, Deputy Director of TAF Industries, the company’s revenue in 2025 will exceed 1 billion US dollars, or more than 40 billion hryvnias, surpassing the previous year’s results. While the company is not yet disclosing the exact figure, it has already confirmed that it will exceed last year’s approximately 1 billion dollars.
Importantly, a significant share of revenue comes not only from finished drones, but from the supply of componentsthrough BraveTech, a company within the TAF Industries holding. TAF Industries supplies components not only for its own production, but for most major manufacturers initially for FPV drones, and now also for reconnaissance and strike platforms. This points to the deepening of the domestic defense ecosystem and a gradual reduction of import dependence.
The state remains the company’s primary customer, working with TAF Industries through multiple formats from large centralized contracts to direct sales to military units funded by state budgets. Cooperation with charitable foundations continues, but according to Zinovskyi, these volumes are not comparable to state contracts.
The story of TAF Industries illustrates how new major manufacturers emerge during wartime. The company grew from the charitable foundation “Khvylya-91”, established at the start of the full-scale invasion, into a large defense holding after securing its first major state contract around 2 billion hryvnias for the supply of more than 100,000 drones. According to Zinovskyi, at that moment the state had virtually no alternatives there was an urgent need for drones, available funding, and a call to those already operating in the market and willing to risk rapid scaling.
The risk was mutual. The company lacked experience with such volumes, and the state was also taking responsibility. But it was precisely ambition and readiness to scale quickly that allowed production to be rapidly expanded in 2023, laying the foundation for today’s results. A crucial role was played by the company’s founder, Oleksandr Yakovenko, who, thanks to more than ten years of experience in logistics, managed to build complex supply chains, negotiate pricing and timelines with Chinese manufacturers, and secure stable deliveries despite export restrictions.
Taken together, these developments show that 2025 marked Ukraine’s transition from emergency response to systemic defense production. Digital tools, combat-proven technologies, large-scale contracts, and growing international interest are shaping a new reality in which Ukraine is gradually moving away from being merely a recipient of aid and increasingly becoming a source of defense solutions.
The main challenge ahead is maintaining this systemic approach. Speed, scale, and trust gained during wartime can be quickly lost without predictable policies, stable rules, and long-term vision. Yet 2025 has demonstrated that Ukraine already possesses the industrial foundation needed to sustain this trajectory.
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