• Ukraine's ground robots are carrying grenade launchers into dangerous areas.
• The robots bring short-range firepower closer to Russian troops without exposing Ukrainian soldiers.
• A brigade said operators tens of kilometers away used armed robots to pulverize Russian positions.

Ukraine is mounting grenade launchers on ground robots, allowing its forces to bring useful firepower closer to Russian troops without sending in soldiers to pull the trigger.

Grenades have long been important in Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion, particularly in close-quarters trench combat, but the battlefield is changing.

Troops increasingly fight in smaller force concentrations from scattered defensive positions rather than heavily manned continuous trench networks. Meanwhile, the growing "kill zone, which is swarming with drones, makes it harder for troops to approach these front-line positions. While infantry remains critically important, drones and robots are bridging the gap and taking over more and more missions, from logistics to medevac to assault.

Defense manufacturers told Business Insider that grenade launchers are increasingly being mounted on uncrewed ground vehicles, or UGVs, allowing soldiers to strike Russian positions from a safer distance.

Oleg Fedoryshyn, the director of R&D for the Ukrainian robotic and defense company DevDroid, told Business Insider that grenade launchers are useful because soldiers "don't need to see the enemy to hit him."

A soldier in hiding is easier to hit with a grenade launcher than, say, a machine gun, which is a line-of-sight weapon.

Now, soldiers can mount them on ground robots so that they don't have to put themselves in harm's way. A soldier-carried grenade launcher might have a range of a few hundred meters, but using a robot, an operator can be tens of kilometers away.

DevDroid's TW-40 ground robotic system has a range of 70 kilometers on paved roads and up to 50 kilometers off-road, making it effective in the kill zone. And the mounted grenade launcher has a reach of 1.5 kilometers.

Ukraine has been using soldier-carried and truck-mounted grenade launchers since before Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022. The robots deliver similar firepower without risking human lives.

Ukraine's Third Army Corps, for example, said in September that it used grenade launchers on robots to "dismantle enemy positions" in its Operation Vivaldi, characterizing it as "a new tactic."

"Equipped with dual Bullspike grenade launchers, the UGVs attacked Russian positions before detonating directly inside the enemy's shelters. The occupiers believed they were under assault by an entire assault squad; in reality, they were being pulverized by the Third Assault Brigade's robots," the brigade wrote on Telegram.

It said that robots were able to strike, put psychological pressure on Russian forces, and clear the position "all without putting our infantry at risk."

"This is a tactic never before seen in the history of warfare. The robots were controlled by operators from a secure shelter located tens of kilometers away from the front line."

Robots armed with grenade launchers are another example of how this war is blending elements of old warfare with new, advanced technologies. In this war, it's not uncommon to see drones dropping grenades or electronic warfare sharing the battlefield with artillery.

In addition to grenade launchers, robots can also fire other weapons, such as RPGs and American-made M2 Browning machine guns.

DevDroid's goal with its systems is "to change all roles that we can change to save people's lives," Fedoryshyn said.

That goal is shared by Ukraine's soldiers, defense industry, and leadership. Oleksandr Yabchanka, the head of the robotic systems for Ukraine's Da Vinci Wolves Battalion, told Business Insider that Ukraine is constantly working to increase the distance between troops and the fighting.

"Our philosophy is, above all, to preserve our personnel," he explained. "We strive to position our fighters as far as possible from the line of contact and the zones of highest risk — the so-called 'kill zones.'"

Other manufacturers say they're seeing a shift in how soldiers use armed robots in combat.

Defense firm Frontline Robotics makes the Buria autonomous remote weapon station, which allows soldiers to fire grenade launchers and other weapons remotely. Early last year, Ukrainian forces were hiding them in prepared locations to stop Russian advances.

"But right now, everything has changed," Mykyta Rozhkov, chief business development officer, told Business Insider, pointing to the growing drone saturation on the battlefield.

Now, it's being mounted on UGVs, creating small tanks that can advance toward Russian positions without exposing troops.

DevDroid's Fedoryshyn said robots armed with grenade launchers are most effective when paired with robots carrying machine guns and aerial drones that can spot targets and direct fire.

Robots can be used to transport gear, evacuate the wounded, blow up enemy positions, lay mines, and fire various types of weaponry. Their use has increased dramatically. Ukraine's defense ministry said in June that it had contracted over 22,000 uncrewed ground vehicles so far in 2026, nearly twice as many as all of the previous year.

The Da Vinci Wolves' Yabchanka said that he sees that "many units have begun employing UGVs. This usage has already become widespread. Ground-based robotic systems are becoming an integral part of combat operations for most units deployed along the line of contact."

As UGV use grows, Rozhkov said that Frontline Robotics' goal is to "provide different robotic solutions to get people outside the danger zone. So just to keep the line with the robots."

• A Ukrainian drone maker was surprised by how much explosive weight soldiers loaded onto one of its drones.
• A drone's payload is limited by the weight of its battery, camera, and other equipment.
• Drone makers push technical limits, but Ukrainian soldiers often go even further.

A major drone maker said Ukrainian soldiers surprised it by packing one of its drones with more explosives than the company ever thought it could carry.

When loading up an attack drone with explosives, combat units are limited by how much weight it can carry and still fly. Batteries, cameras, and other essential equipment also take up some of that capacity. That doesn't stop soldiers from pushing the equipment to its limit.

"One of the most surprising videos I've seen recently is that one of the units has managed to put the huge explosive part on our drone," Oleg, an executive at TechEx, told Business Insider.

The drone was carrying "something like five or seven kilos, and they managed to fly into the building and put it completely to the ground with one single FPV."

"I was like, 'How do you literally put this amount of explosives on one single FPV?' But it managed to carry this on and did the mission," the TechEx exec said, speaking on the condition that he be identified only by his first name for security reasons.

TechEx lists a maximum payload of two kilograms for three of its NATO-codified fiber-optic drones: the Stalker XO-10 China-Free, Stalker XO-15 MAX PRO, and Stalker XO-13.

Weight is a major constraint for Ukraine's drone makers, who are constantly trying to accommodate more firepower and bigger batteries, as well as heavier weapons and cameras. It's a constant trade-off, with every gram mattering.

Soldiers fighting for survival often push beyond advertised limits. Last year, a sergeant major in a heavy bomber company told Army Inform, Ukraine's defense ministry media, that while a Bat drone can fly up 8 kilometers and carry up to 12 kilograms, his unit pushed it to fly a little farther and carry a little more.

Weight is an important consideration for TechEx drone development. The company advertises its "ultralight fiber optic reel" as one of its product advantages. Last year, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense characterized TechEx's Stalker series as having a "record-low spool weight among Ukrainian fiber-optic drones."

The struggle with weight is particularly acute for fiber-optic drones because, in addition to gear like batteries, they have to carry the spool containing the fiber-optic cable that trails behind them, maintaining a connection with the drone operator. The cable makes them resistant to enemy jamming, but the added weight limits how many explosives they can carry. The cable spool can weigh several kilograms on some drones.

Olha, a TechEx representative, told Business Insider that the company developed its own technology to reduce spool weight, making "tiny tweaks and changes" to how the spool is assembled and the fiber is wound into it. Those adjustments allow the company to keep the spool lightweight while maintaining a stable connection and minimizing the risk of the cable breaking during flight.

The company needs the "perfect balance" to make sure it stays reliable and durable, as not all drone pilots have a wealth of flying experience, Oleg said.

The company faces trade-off decisions. Extending the range of its fiber-optic drones, for instance, would require larger cable spools, potentially leaving less room for explosives, Olha said. But not every drone needs a heavy payload. For some, speed and agility matter more.

Ukraine's soldiers often surprise the manufacturers of their weapons with how they use and adapt their gear, with troops sometimes repairing and modifying equipment near the front lines and experimenting with new tactics.

Kuldar Väärsi, the founder and CEO of Estonian ground robot maker Milrem Robotics, previously told Business Insider that Ukrainian soldiers used the company's technology in ways it was not expecting, including adding and attaching things to the robots. "Ukrainian troops are really creative, and they really find very simple ways how to get even more out of the equipment," he said.

How gear is used in the field often informs how Ukraine's defense companies update and modify their products. Soldiers give feedback to firms like TechEx every day, and companies send their own employees close to the fight to gather feedback and make changes.

Oleg said that TechEx receives direct feedback from soldiers constantly, resulting in weekly changes to its products. Without changes, a product in Ukraine "within three months, it will be outdated, and nobody will use it, because the industry is moving extremely fast," he said.

TechEx encourages soldier experimentation, including by making its drones with parts that are interchangeable. Soldiers can swap components to repair damaged drones or combine parts to create configurations the company never designed.

"Part of what I think TechEx is really great at is the ability to customize," Olha said.

• Drones in Ukraine act as flying communications bridges between operators and mission drones.
• They repeat the operators' signal to allow drones to fly farther while staying connected.
• The signal-repeating drones make other drones more resistant to Russia's electronic warfare.

Ukraine has created drones that act as flying relay towers, allowing its drones conducting missions to fly farther while making them harder for Russia to jam.

In a war where drones gather intel and account for more than 95% of Russia's front-line losses, Ukraine wants its operators to keep control of their drones over longer distances with stronger signals that are harder for Russia to break.

One solution is the signal repeater drone, a flying signal booster that operates between a pilot and a mission drone, relaying commands to the aircraft and sending back video and intelligence to the operator. Able to fly much higher than a ground antenna, airborne repeaters can extend a drone's range and help preserve the connection under pressure.

It increases the mission drone's operational range by extending how far it can fly while staying connected to its pilot. It's a similar principle to how wifi repeaters work.

Ukrainian arms maker Twist Robotics makes a signal-repeating drone, born from its Saker Scout drone.

Rostyslav Olenchyn, the company's co-founder and chief information officer, told Business Insider that the drone was widely used for reconnaissance and strike operations, but this war changes rapidly, with arms and warfighting technology quickly becoming obsolete. And without updates, this drone was at risk of falling victim to that pattern in the cat-and-mouse technology race.

Drones needed to be effective at longer ranges, and the Saker Scout's range was "not enough" for many missions. So, the drone was redesigned "for another objective. It became the signal relay station," Olenchyn said.

The Saker Scout, able to also be used in other combat roles, can extend the operational range of drones by more than 50 kilometers, according to the company.

The concept of using aircraft as signal middlemen isn't new. Militaries have used helicopters and planes to relay communications between assets and forces disconnected by the terrain, though usually troops rather than drones. These crewed aircraft, however, struggle to operate over Ukraine, but while such air assets are few and far between, drones are prolific.

Large crewed aircraft cannot "necessarily survive in the heavy saturated air of the battlefield," where drones and air defenses are a threatening presence, Olenchyn said. "So the small, versatile platform was a solution." He said that serial production of the Saker Scout with this function started in 2023.

The company's strike drone, the Signal Hunter, can also be used as a relay.

Other Ukrainian companies are also working in the space, with some updating existing drone types and some designing new ones. Roboneers, for example, developed a version of its Wardog drone that can carry relay equipment weighing up to three kilograms, and Skyriper makes the Skyriper-R Airborne Repeater, a dedicated drone with the single function of acting as an airborne repeater.

Volodymyr Zinovskyi, the CEO of the Ukrainian defense firm TAF Industries, told Business Insider that his company started making relay drones last year at the request of units, describing the technology as going from optional to essential.

Brave1, Ukraine's state-backed innovation platform, wrote last year that "the use of UAVs over long distances or in difficult terrain requires the use of repeaters - special devices that help increase the range of a stable signal several times."

Some Ukrainian drones are built for this relay mission, while others can be fitted with add-on repeater equipment.

Beyond overcoming geographical challenges, airborne repeaters also help counter Russian electronic warfare by strengthening the communications link between operators and mission drones, making it harder to disrupt, though Russia can still target the relay itself.

An analysis published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a US think tank, last year described the creation of relay systems as a response to growing electronic warfare tactics, including the ability that both sides have to trace drone control signals back to their source for strikes on operators, priority targets in this war.

Dmytro "Liber" Zhluktenko, a former drone operator who now serves as a lessons-learned analyst with Ukraine's 413th Unmanned Systems Regiment "RAID," told Business Insider that Ukrainian forces are "keeping somewhat a stable radio link by mass utilizing signal repeaters."

He said that some uncrewed repeater aircraft are fixed-wing drones, while some are repurposed bomber-type drones. Instead of bombs, it just carries the signal repeater," he said.

"We optimize those signal repeater carriers to just stay in the air for an extremely long time, like one hour plus," he said. "That's their only job: to be in the air." Working with strike drones, they give operators a "great radio link over the target."

Oleksiy, the commander of the 2nd UAV engineer platoon of the International Defense Legion of Ukraine, told ArmyInform, the official information agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, last year that his unit uses repeaters on drones to expand the radio horizon of the drones they want to use and fly further to target Russia.

Russia is using the technology too, including to help attack drones fly deeper into Ukrainian territory.

And these lessons aren't limited to the Ukraine war. The US military is also experimenting with ways to extend drone operations and keep operators connected from farther away. The Marine Corps, for instance, has experimented with using helicopters as FPV motherships, as well as handing off control after launch.

Though different from Ukraine's airborne repeater work, both address a similar battlefield problem, which is that drones are only useful if operators can launch them, control them, and keep receiving information at tactically relevant distances.

Olenchyn said that updates, like the signal repeating ability, are critical in combat. He said that every two weeks, the company has "a new update, new kinds of techniques, new kinds of drones or functionality which are released."

• A NATO drone maker is partnering with a Ukrainian firm to manufacture drone parts underground.
• ORQA says the partnership offers lessons in keeping factories running during wartime.
• Western companies often overlook Ukraine's experience in manufacturing under attack, it says.

A NATO drone maker is teaming up with Ukraine's defense industry and building drone parts underground. The company's CEO said it's seeking to learn lessons in wartime production that could prove critical for Western defense companies in a crisis.

Croatian drone technology company ORQA and Ukrainian drone maker General Cherry are jointly developing and manufacturing interceptor drones, components, and other counter-drone systems in both countries. As part of the partnership, they are building an underground factory in Ukraine to make components.

Working amid Ukraine's wartime risks teaches the company valuable lessons in manufacturing while under attack, ORQA CEO Srđan Kovačević told Business Insider. Producing components in Ukraine is also more efficient than making them in NATO and shipping them to the Ukrainian military, he said.

Kovačević said his company is "learning from Ukraine," where industry is "under constant threat."

"They were also compelled to go underground, to go wide, to de-risk their assets in distribution," he said. "So I think that's the way forward for any critical capabilities."

Ukrainian defense firms are splitting their manufacturing across multiple sites, frequently relocating, and moving some work underground to avoid being targeted by Russian attacks. It's less efficient, but more resilient to attacks. Some Western officials and companies warn that it's time for European industry to learn these practices amid concerns about Russian aggression.

"Distributed systems are much more resilient to any disruption than concentrated systems, centralized systems," Kovačević said. "It's simply about not having a single point of failure."

Ukraine has "this immensely valuable lived experience of building and scaling under fire," the ORQA CEO said, "that's being often abstracted and neglected by Western companies." That, however, is starting to change, he said.

"I think the thinking is really shifting on the European side as well, that this distributed nature actually reinforces resilience even though there are economic downsides to it."

Raivis Melnis, the defense minister of Latvia, told Business Insider that NATO companies work in a far more concentrated way than Ukrainian ones do, and "the question is whether we are ready to produce the systems in different locations, dispersed, and how we organize that."

He wants Latvian and Ukrainian defense industries to work together in part so they can learn how Ukrainian companies maintain production during a war.

Davyd Aloian, the deputy secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, told Business Insider earlier this year that defense companies within parts of NATO should "definitely" start breaking up their production more.

Some defense industry figures have voiced similar concerns about the state of production in the West. Karmo Saar, the head of sales for Estonian drone maker Krattworks, told Business Insider that in a war with Russia, if European companies don't disperse more, "I think we're going to be punished."

Dispersing production is not without trade-offs, though. Achi, CEO of the Ukrainian-Estonian defense technology company and ground robot maker Ark Robotics, told Business Insider that such defensive steps are "necessary," but "not ideal." Operations would be easier with everything in one place.

Choosing Ukraine despite the danger

Some Ukrainian companies have begun setting up production in NATO countries, both to better share their expertise with partner nations and to operate without the risk of Russian attacks.

But Kovačević, whose company makes drones as well as drone technology, including controllers, receivers, goggles, video equipment, and flight simulators, said that building in Ukraine comes with upsides.

The company, which supplies 24 NATO allies, could have done all of its work with General Cherry in Croatia, but instead, they are spreading their joint work across both countries.

Kovačević said building components in Europe and then importing them into Ukraine is "more inefficient than actually doing it in Ukraine." It's also more expensive, and Ukraine has shown its ability to produce in large volumes.

Localizing the supply chain also means that all parties can "exchange information more efficiently," including about what's happening and what's needed on the battlefield.

He said he understands why some Ukrainian companies are building gear on NATO soil, but he sees value in partnering with General Cherry in Ukraine. He said the Ukrainian company, one of the country's largest drone makers, has "a high operational excellence in running their own manufacturing operations in a safe manner, even under constant threat."

The partnership also offers lessons beyond manufacturing. He said that while the West "has a very deep technology expertise," it lacks "this lived experience of taking that technology and applying it to the operational reality of the 21st-century warfare."

The goal is to both supply Ukraine and to equip NATO with weapons shaped by Ukraine's battlefield experience and expertise. In Croatia, the partners are establishing a joint serial-production facility for co-developed interceptor drones and other counter-drone systems destined for NATO, while in Ukraine, they intend to create drone components, including electronics and communications systems, which General Cherry says it will supply to "all our partners in Ukraine," not just use itself.

Ukraine is already able to make the drones that the partnership will produce in Croatia, but "what they lack is the capacity to build components that go into those systems," Kovačević said, explaining the focus of the Ukrainian facility. He said the project won't disrupt Ukraine's existing supply chains. One of ORQA's priorities is to reduce reliance on Chinese products, and it wants to help Ukraine's industry do the same.

"Now," he said, "it's time to merge the two and emerge better off on both sides of this partnership."

• The arms race is so intense that Ukrainian companies can never stop updating their products.
• One firm said a weapon could become obsolete in just three months without updates.
• Ukrainian firms work directly with soldiers to improve weapons faster than Western manufacturers.

The fast-moving arms development race amid Russia's war against Ukraine means that the defense companies can't ever really consider a product finished or stop making regular updates, a leading Ukrainian drone maker told Business Insider.

Ukraine's defense companies gather constant feedback from soldiers using their products in combat and make frequent updates, sometimes daily. Many companies and soldiers say that without these updates, their gear could become irrelevant on the battlefield within weeks.

Oleg, an executive at major Ukrainian fiber-optic and interceptor drone maker TechEx, told Business Insider that "the most important thing is that you want this product to evolve over time. There will never be a moment when you just build a product, and it's just good."

If a defense company "just stays with one single product, I think within three months, it will be outdated, and nobody will use it," he said, speaking on the condition that only his first name be used for safety purposes.

TechEx's drones, he said, are updated weekly, sometimes with major modifications and other times with adjustments of just a few millimeters or grams.

In this war, he said, "when you build a good product, the enemy builds the countermeasure." To stay in the fight, weapons makers must keep adapting. "You need to work constantly."

Ukraine's Frontline Robotics, for example, told Business Insider that it gets feedback from soldiers 24/7 and makes small changes to its products up to 20 times a month, with major updates coming roughly every six months.

Ark Robotics, another Ukrainian company, said it may make about half a dozen different changes to a product over a few weeks.

Companies are baking the ability for fast and regular updates into their design from the very beginning, making them modular and software-first so changes can be made remotely, quickly, and without needing to redesign or rebuild the entire product from scratch.

The traditional model for Western weapons development is slower. A design is typically matured and tested before production, then is built in relatively stable batches for years, with changes made around scheduled upgrades rather than thinking about constant redesign.

An analysis published by RUSI in December wrote that Western weapons systems "are treated as indivisible wholes, with procurement cycles often stretching over 10 to 20 years and upgrades requiring entire programme restructurings. This legacy approach treats innovation as a rare event rather than a continuous process."

In Ukraine, companies and soldiers are allowed to directly communicate and innovate. Companies text, Whatsapp, and video call soldiers even when they are in the field to exchange constant feedback and requests. Ukraine's model is bottom-up and decentralized.

Oleg said that TechEx's technical support department works with over 100 units to constantly support them and get battlefield feedback. Ukrainian companies often have employees who visit soldiers near the front lines, gather feedback, and help them make repairs or upgrades that can then be integrated back into the products. Soldiers often surprise Ukrainian companies with how they use or modify their gear, which in turn influences what they build and what features they add.

Western companies have long operated differently. Feedback from typically comes through a slower, formal chain rather than straight from the soldier who is using it. But many Western companies are starting to change their processes, particularly those with products in use in Ukraine.

Earlier this year, US Air Force Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, who oversees NATO military operations as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told Business Insider that NATO wants to establish the same kind of battlefield feedback loop that Ukraine has, and that's something allies are working on.

The drawback to constantly changing or redesigning weapons is that it makes it much harder to produce at scale.

Achi, the CEO of the Ukrainian-Estonian robot, drone, and software company Ark Robotics, previously told Business Insider that when "talking about scale manufacturing, any change comes at a very high price," slowing down or even halting production.

But change is essential. "You cannot afford not to be able to make changes," he said. That forces manufacturers to anticipate changing battlefield needs while trying to maintain production.

Oleg said that European partners need to prepare for the reality of constant adaptation in weapons development, a warning echoed by other Ukrainian companies and officials. He cautioned that Russia is "really good at technology" and at developing countermeasures to even Ukraine's best weapons. "They're being underestimated by a lot of people."

For Ukrainian weapons makers, that means there may never be a point when a product is truly finished.

• A major Western drone firm says working in Ukraine is key to getting gear to the standard NATO needs.
• ORQA is partnering with Ukraine's industry to co-produce drone systems, including for the NATO market.
• Its CEO said Ukraine has battlefield experience and operational excellence that can shape gear for NATO.

A Western company developing drone technology for NATO militaries says that working in Ukraine is the best way to ensure its gear meets the alliance's needs for a future fight.

ORQA, a Croatian company that makes drones and drone technology, including controllers, receivers, goggles, video equipment, and flight simulators, already supplies parts and systems to two dozen NATO allies. But it wants to draw on Ukraine's battlefield experience to improve its products.

Working in Ukraine "creates an opportunity to really channel this sort of operational expertise to shape these products. And then these products can be made to a standard that NATO demands," CEO Srđan Kovačević told Business Insider.

ORQA produces components used by Ukrainian defense tech company General Cherry and is partnering with the firm to jointly make drone systems and spread Ukraine's drone expertise.

The war in Ukraine is the most intense drone war ever fought, and getting feedback from the battlefield provides critical insight into what soldiers need most.

"If I'm being blunt, there are only a few parts of the world where you can actively shoot down these unmanned aerial threats in a real-world environment," Kovačević told Business Insider.

That same drive has prompted Western defense companies, ranging from small start-ups to major primes, to set up manufacturing facilities, repair hubs, and offices in Ukraine, seeking battlefield feedback to improve their technology faster.

ORQA is also seeking to better understand how Ukraine's defense industry scales, moves quickly, and works in wartime.

Ukrainian defense firms are producing drones and other weapons at a much faster rate than many of their Western counterparts.

Kovačević said that "the West has a tremendous amount to learn from Ukraine," saying that the "operational excellence that Ukrainian defense forces have developed is unparalleled in the Western world."

He said that while the West "has a very deep technology expertise," it lacks "this lived experience of taking that technology and applying it to the operational reality of the 21st-century warfare."

"Now," he said, "it's time to merge the two and emerge better off on both sides of this partnership."

General Cherry is one of Ukraine's biggest drone companies and has announced partnerships with other Western defense tech companies.

ORQA and General Cherry intend to manufacture in both countries, supplying NATO and its allies with Ukrainian-developed counter-drone technology while expanding domestic production of drone components in Ukraine.

Kovačević said Ukrainian companies like General Cherry have "immensely valuable lived experience of building and scaling under fire," something that is often "neglected by Western companies," but they can learn.

The significant "volumes that Ukrainian drone companies are able to produce really dwarf anything that's happening in the West right now," he added.

Western leaders are encouraging industrial collaboration, and NATO has launched programs to bring Ukrainian and allied defense companies together.

ORQA isn't alone in looking to Ukraine's extensive battlefield experience to develop better weapons for NATO. Latvia-based Origin Robotics, for example, makes BLAZE interceptor drones purchased by several NATO militaries and BEAK, a drone-launched precision-guided weapon used by Ukrainian forces.

Its CEO, Agris Kipurs, previously told Business Insider that the company takes lessons from its work in Ukraine, "but we adapt those weapons systems specifically to be used in a NATO country. And NATO countries and the armies of NATO countries are our customers. That is the user we build for."

Kovačević said Ukrainian technology can't simply be transplanted into NATO militaries. Ukraine has had to develop weapons at breakneck speed and make do with what's available.

NATO, however, has time to take operational knowledge, contextualize it for alliance forces, and build these products to the necessary standards using Western technology, he said.

Kovačević said the goal of these industrial partnerships is to supply NATO without undermining Ukraine's ability to meet its own wartime needs.

ORQA also aims to boost Ukraine's domestic production of drone components and reduce its reliance on foreign suppliers.

Ukraine is "relying heavily on non-Ukrainian and non-European supply chains," Kovačević said, adding that reducing that dependence is strategically important. ORQA says it manufactures key components in-house and avoids Chinese-made parts to strengthen its supply chain.