Drone procurement overhauled: Ukraine relies on combat data, a marketplace and a guaranteed minimum supply

Ukraine is massively expanding its drone armament and reorganising both drone procurement and the supply of frontline units. For the first half of 2026, the state procurement agency DOT, which acts on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, reports contracts for drones worth 333.6 billion hryvnia – the equivalent of around 6.9 billion euros. That is roughly double the figure for the same period last year. The largest item is first-person view (FPV) combat drones, which play the central role in combat in the ongoing war.

Some of the purchases are handled via DOT-Chain Defence, a state-run online marketplace. There, frontline units have their own budgets and select the systems they need immediately; DOT then takes care of contracts, payments and logistics. If the drones are in stock, they reach the units within nine days on average.

In addition, a new, more data-driven model of the Ministry of Defence has applied since March. Purchases are no longer driven primarily by individual requests but by actual combat data from digital systems such as ePoints, DOT-Chain, Brave1 Market, DELTA and Mission Control. On this basis, the General Staff prioritises those unmanned systems that have demonstrably proven themselves in combat; only then does DOT award the contracts. The aim is to procure only combat-proven systems while reducing corruption risks.

For certain drone types, closed tenders are also used. This procedure has already proven itself in the purchase of 155-millimetre artillery ammunition, where it yielded savings of more than 16 per cent.

Drone procurement with a guaranteed minimum supply

At the same time, the “Basic Level” project is being launched. It is intended to guarantee frontline units a minimum quantity of drones every month. The first phase covers FPV drones with radio or fibre-optic control, DJI Mavic drones, bomber drones, fixed-wing reconnaissance drones and light medium-range strike drones. For now, only units deployed directly at the front and actively engaged in combat are eligible – in other words, the formations fighting the drone war day after day.