FPV drones: Ukraine plans to procure more than one million units in 2025

Ukraine's armed forces are to receive around 200,000 unmanned systems per month in 2025, according to the procurement plans of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence. This covers the full spectrum of air, land and sea drones: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) and unmanned surface vessels (USV). According to Hlib Kanevsky, more than one billion euros is earmarked for first-person view (FPV) drones alone, including fibre-optic drones among these FPV drones. Kanevsky heads the procurement policy department at the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence.

While long-range systems were the focus in 2024, expanding tactical drone capabilities takes priority in 2025.

Faster pace demanded for FPV drones

At a meeting with leading manufacturers, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence pressed for faster FPV deliveries. As little time as possible is to pass between production and use in combat units.

This reflects the expansion of production capacity, but also the growing number of specialised operators. The shortage of FPV drones that still prevailed in Ukraine at the turn of 2023/24 has now been fully resolved.

Experienced teams fly up to 30 FPV missions a day. Units that still complain of shortages face internal accusations of poor command, fraud or lack of interest. If a radio-controlled drone costs 500 euros on average and a fibre-optic drone 1,000 euros, the expected number for 2025 is 1 to 1.5 million units – three to four drones per kilometre of front per day.

Unmanned Systems Forces and UAV formations

According to current estimates, the Ukrainian service branch “Unmanned Systems Forces” (Syly bezpilotnykh system, SBS) numbers around 5,000 troops. In addition, there are other units specialising in drone warfare that do not belong directly to the SBS. The number of FPV teams in the Ukrainian armed forces is not known, but it is likely to be in the several hundreds.

Brigades currently form the largest UAV units. Known ones include the 9th, the 59th “Yakiv Handziuk”, the 414th “Magyar” and the 383rd. Designated UAV regiments are the 14th, the 20th “K-2”, the 411th “Hawk”, the 412th “Nemesis”, the 425th “Ochi”, the 427th “Rarog” and the 429th “Achilles”. There are also numerous battalions and many even smaller units.

A turning point in warfare

The mass use of FPV drones in the war between Ukraine and Russia has fundamentally changed modern warfare. Experts already speak of a turning point that divides warfare into a time before and after the advent of these drones. A technological step back to motorised and mechanised columns seems unthinkable.

Military IT and microelectronics have long ceased to come only from giant defence corporations. Innovation increasingly emerges from civil society, driven by agile developers and start-ups.

Classic military strategy, in which lines of attack from two directions encircle a target, is losing momentum: FPV drones strike the visible logistics and thus block the engine of this pincer movement.

A recently captured Russian soldier described his experiences at the front in an interview. Until he was taken prisoner, he had not seen a single Ukrainian soldier with his own eyes – only drones.