Netherlands allocates €20 million for FPV drones for Ukraine as part of "drone coalition"
The Netherlands will contribute 20 million euros to the joint fund of the "drone coalition" for Ukraine. The coalition plans to transfer 1 million FPV strike drones.
According to Censor.NET, this was reported by the Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands.
According to the Dutch Ministry of Defence, Ukraine has a deficit of drones, while Russia does not. To reduce this deficit, Latvia and Ukraine created a drone coalition earlier this year, with the Netherlands also joining. A memorandum of understanding was signed in February.
"Ukraine needs a large number of attack drones. They have proven themselves very well on the battlefield. Together with 11 other countries, we are going to provide them, and we confirmed this today at the NATO summit," said Defence Minister Brekelmans.
According to the Dutch Ministry of Defence, the coalition's goal is to supply Ukraine with 1 million drones this year, and soon expand supplies to other types, such as reconnaissance drones. At the same time, more than 265 companies, including nine from the Netherlands, have signed an agreement to supply FPV drones to Ukraine.
What is a drone coalition?
The Drone Coalition is an organisation of countries involved in the production and transfer of drones to Ukraine as part of the supply of weapons and equipment to Ukraine during the Russian invasion to repel Russian aggression from 2024.
The Drone Coalition was officially launched on 17 February as part of the work of the Contact Group on Ukraine's Defence.
Currently, the drone coalition officially includes 14 countries - Latvia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, France, Canada, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany and Sweden - with the Czech Republic in the process of joining.
Five countries of the "drone coalition" for Ukraine set up a €45 million joint fund.
