How can Ukraine tame "menagerie of drones" and should it be done?
Drone Industry
The Russian-Ukrainian war, and especially its full-scale phase, has forever changed military science. If the appearance of tanks on the battlefields of the First World War once turned the tide of war, today their effectiveness is in doubt. And all because of drones.
More than one column of expensive Russian military hardware worth billions of dollars has already gone up in flames because of "penny-worth" drones, either guiding artillery or striking targets on their own. According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, from February 24, 2022, to early October 2025, Russia has lost over 11,000 tanks and more than 23,000 armored combat vehicles. The contribution of drones to these numbers is invaluable.
Overall, calculations by the Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) show that across all targets hit, including materiel, the USF’s ratio is 1 to 100—meaning that for every dollar they spend, the Russian army incurs $100 in losses. This is a very high level of cost-effectiveness and clearly indicates where funds should be invested.
Today, Ukraine is the global leader in the development, production, and employment of drones. Global media write about this, and Western military commands, particularly in the United States, acknowledge it.
"We’re behind, seriously behind. Ukrainians are the world leaders in drone technology. Every era has its key assets. Once it was artillery, once it was aircraft carriers, and now it’s drones," stated U.S. President Donald Trump’s special representative, General Keith Kellogg, during the YES 2025 conference in Kyiv.
Read more: How Ukraine became global leader in UAV production and deployment
Unmanned aerial vehicles have been successfully employed by Ukraine since 2014, when Russia began its invasion of Crimea and then Donbas. At the origins of Ukraine’s UAV industry stood companies such as DEVIRO (Leleka-100), Ukrspecsystems (PD-1, PD-2), Skyeton (Raybird-3), and Athlon Avia (Furia).
The industry received true carte blanche after February 24, 2022. Drones were literally being assembled in garages and kitchens, with most of the needed components sourced from Chinese marketplaces.
"Unmanned systems are what give us a measure of independence. Yes, we depend on where to source components. But we build the drones ourselves. And that guarantees our ability to resist. And we resist as an entire nation—even assembling drones in garages. That’s good. But everything that could be done in garages, we’ve already done," says Yaroslav Honchar, head of the NGO Aerorozvidka.
Mass back-yard production developed and evolved to an industrial scale. If before the full-scale war, Ukraine had seven domestic UAV manufacturers, today more than 500 companies operate in the country, with over a thousand models in circulation.
The state encouraged this in every way, since drones proved their effectiveness at the front. The support primarily consisted of simplifying codification procedures for products and their admission to service. However, this created another problem — the so-called " menagerie of drones."
To explain the phenomenon, Ihor Fedirko, executive director of the Ukrainian Gunsmiths Council, drew a comparison with Russian approaches. Russia follows a post-Soviet system based on standardization principles. They have only five main UAV models: their primary strike platform is the Shahed, the intermediate strike platform is the Lancet, their reconnaissance platforms are the Orlan-10 and Orlan-30, and the strike-reconnaissance Forpost. In other words, they selected one main unmanned system for each mission set and continuously modernize and refine it.
"We took a different path, allowing the private market to generate solutions for specific tasks. As a result, we have more than 15 types of reconnaissance UAVs alone, and FPV drones are simply beyond counting. We have bomber drones, fixed-wing bomber drones, reconnaissance drones, reconnaissance-strike drone-missiles, deep-strike systems, and also anti-drone systems—the palette is simply colossal. And in each of these lines, there are at least ten manufacturers," Fedirko said in an interview with Ukrinform.
Read more: Top 10 types of drones in Ukraine’s UAV industry
Censor.NET, within the framework of its Drone Industry project, spoke with leading sector experts to determine whether it is worth fighting the "menagerie of drones", and whether there are at least some upsides to this unique situation.
Is the "menagerie" era coming to an end?
A clear-cut answer on the "menagerie of drones" is difficult, it is a negative, but always with the caveat that diversity has advantages. Our interlocutors, however, agree that its period is finally drawing to a close.
"The "menagerie of drones" is like the industry’s ‘childhood disease.’ The phenomenon emerged, as history allotted, at a time when quantity required more than quality, when the state and volunteers called on people to assemble drones in garages, kitchens, and offices. It was a natural process we’ve lived through; the next step is standardization," DEVIRO maintains.
There was standardization before as well. Even prior to the full-scale invasion, the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff had a clear procedure for taking unmanned aviation systems into service, but due to circumstances it was simplified and replaced with admission to operation.
"This gave drone manufacturers room to spread their wings," DEVIRO adds.
According to Oleksii Babenko, CEO of the drone manufacturer Vyriy, the "menagerie of drones" is a bad thing. But it is important to understand the reasons why it arose in the first place.
"The procurement system allowed companies to emerge in an artificial way, not through demand from the military, but through deals, personal connections, and slick presentations. As a result, we ended up with a large number of companies that simply wouldn’t have appeared in a normal market. Some of them eventually retooled, began working for the military, and created solid products that are now actively used, produced, and sold. But some companies failed to adapt when the end user began directly choosing what to buy and what not to," he says.
As a consequence, the Vyriy CEO adds, many companies remain that produce roughly similar drones, but with differences in components and settings which unquestionably hinders the military’s ability to work efficiently.
"And if we also add a "menagerie of initiator boards" to this, those literally threaten their lives," Babenko stresses.
A strong trend is now taking shape, he explains: brigades are switching to supply from one or two manufacturers, via e-points, DOT-Chain, and so on and receiving properly standardized drones.
"But a large number of companies are left without orders. That is precisely how the "menagerie of drones" in Ukraine is beginning to come to an end," Oleksii Babenko asserts.
At DEVIRO, they are convinced that the formative stage of Ukraine’s drone industry is almost over.
"The number of new drone manufacturers is no longer growing at the pace it did two years ago. The key players, roughly ten companies are starting to look to other software and service providers, and so on. In search of new ideas and technologies, companies will begin to consolidate and scale up," the company’s representatives predict.
Read more: Drone industry in Ukraine has taken shape, time to muscle up - manufacturers say about UAV market
In the view of Volodymyr Zinovskyi, Deputy Director at TAF Industries, the "menagerie of drones" is strategically harmful because it prevents rapid scaling and the development of uniform training systems and common deployment tactics. This leads, for example, to situations where one unit knows how to use a particular drone while another does not.
"However, in our specific case, a large number of manufacturers in a loosely competitive market enables us to discover innovations that, over time, can change those very tactics of employment that are usually set years in advance. In addition, competition constantly forces manufacturers to improve the product and drive down cost price so that buyers choose them.
At the same time, we need new technologies to surprise the enemy. There is no other way to verify whether a technology works and can be applied than on the battlefield, ideally testing it in varied conditions and having different units do so," he says.
According to Vadym Yunyk, co-founder of FRDM and President of the Technological Forces of Ukraine, diversity is necessary: the front is evolving, so different solutions are needed.
"On the other hand, there’s logistics, maintenance, training. A soldier has one drone today and another tomorrow and loses time retraining. Ideally, we’d have a universal platform, but that’s unrealistic," Yunyk states.
Yaroslav Honchar, head of the NGO Aerorozvidka, urges everyone not to forget those who will directly use all this equipment, the military.
"They’re already frustrated because everyone has to be trained. Imagine yourself a brigade commander who might be handed 400 types of equipment. There are no prodigies capable of mastering them all. With no standardization in place, every engineer starts inventing their own thing. So how do you train the operators? Oversaturation and the lack of standardization reduce the effectiveness of UAV deployment, because preparing people for such variety is a very serious challenge," he stresses.
Should we fight the "menagerie of drones?"
The UAV market is currently in a phase of self-regulation. Government intervention should be targeted, since the main trends are set by the military, the people directly executing combat tasks. Still, Volodymyr Zinovskyi of TAF Industries believes that certain state standards that would reduce differences among mass-market products to a minimum would be advisable.
At the same time, in Yaroslav Honchar’s view, if the military were asked to set requirements for UAVs, 99% of manufacturers simply would not be able to meet them.
Oleksii Babenko stresses that there is nothing to fight per se; instead, the causes of the "menagerie of drones" must be removed—namely, opaque procurement procedures and potential shady schemes.
"Another reason is the unclear process for defining requirements. This is probably the biggest problem our army had. In fact, what the Defense Procurement Agency (DPA), the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the Ministry of Defense, and the General Staff are doing now is precisely eliminating the reasons the "menagerie" emerged," he says.
According to Babenko, self-regulatory processes will remain decisive going forward.
"Units choose what works for them. It doesn’t have to be a product from a major manufacturer. It can be a local maker with a drone tailored perfectly to that specific unit. That looks much more like diversity shaped by genuine demand, not because someone decided there should be, say, a hundred companies making FPVs. Essentially, units should decide for themselves which drones they will fly," explains Vyriy’s CEO.
Vadym Yunyk voices a similar view: "The military should determine what they need themselves, but orders must come from those who are actually in the trenches."
According to Volodymyr Zinovskyi, the organic move away from the "menagerie" is already underway, as the market is consolidating and the most effective systems are the ones remaining. Major manufacturers also have the experience to scale production and cover the required demand.
"Another pathway now developing is licensed production. For example, a developer of an effective solution may lack the necessary manufacturing capacity, so they simply grant a production license. The state has not regulated this yet," Zinovskyi explains.
DEVIRO emphasizes that Ukraine does not have a drone market in the classical sense, what exists is frontline demand.
"It is our military, drone operators, who shape this demand. They know better than anyone what they need to accomplish combat tasks successfully. The "menagerie of drones" will inevitably disappear, but the state must help by bringing the military and manufacturers together to find the right balance," DEVIRO believes.
Yaroslav Honchar, head of the NGO Aerorozvidka, adds that some manufacturers are now moving into specialization. That is, producing not drones per se but, for example, propellers or engines: components without which UAV production is impossible. This further increases our independence from external markets and bolsters national security.
"I think reality will push companies to find their niche. There’s no need to equip a brigade with every type of platform. It’s better to make one thing but do it well and at sufficient scale," Honchar says.
He also urges manufacturers to join forces and, nonetheless, work through standardization issues,so that, in practice, a mission doesn’t fail because a supply handler handed a crew batteries from an incompatible drone. Another important issue Honchar highlights is control interfaces: they can differ drastically, and operators need time to adapt. Therefore, the head of Aerorozvidka proposes that manufacturers consult and coordinate with the military. This will multiply production effectiveness.
The "menagerie of drones" amid potential exports: what are the prospects?
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the potential of Ukraine’s defense-industrial complex has grown by orders of magnitude. For next year alone, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy estimates the drones-and-missiles segment at $35 billion. Forty percent of the weapons used at the front today are produced in Ukraine or in cooperation with Ukraine. Still, for this potential to truly deliver, funding is required.
"The time has come to launch exports of our Ukrainian weapons, those categories where we have a surplus and can therefore export them—to generate funding for the types of weapons that are particularly needed for defense," Zelenskyy emphasized at the International Forum of Defense Industries.
Drones are one of the potential export avenues, and our international partners are keenly interested. After the recent barrage of Russian UAVs against Western European countries, a delegation of Ukrainian specialists traveled to Denmark to exchange combat experience. The Sting interceptor drones by Wild Hornets made a strong impression on European counterparts.
Interest in Ukrainian UAV developments is broad on both sides of the Atlantic. In early October, a Ukrainian delegation was in the United States to discuss with Pentagon and Congressional representatives implementation of the so-called Drone Deal—a five-year program to procure Ukrainian UAVs, as well as the possibility of joint production of certain models.
"Today there is no NATO drone standard that is more effective than what the Ukrainian Armed Forces employ on the battlefield. Standards are set by the leader and Ukraine is Europe’s leader in the drone industry. That is why we, Ukrainian manufacturers together with pilots, are forging these standards right now on the battlefield," DEVIRO emphasizes.
However, in the view of Vyriy CEO Oleksii Babenko, exports will not significantly affect the FPV segment, the very link where the "menagerie" persists most.
"Many FPV manufacturers think they’ll enter foreign markets now and everyone will immediately want our identical, hastily assembled FPVs that become outdated in six to twelve months at most. But that’s not the case. Our drones are needed, but in my view to absorb the technology," he says.
Volodymyr Zinovskyi, Deputy Director at TAF Industries, is convinced that once arms exports are fully up and running, it will reveal which Ukrainian-made systems foreign militaries are ready to integrate into their doctrine.
"A good example is how Poland suddenly started looking for interceptor manufacturers after Shaheds flew into their territory. Recognizing the need, they will now find the solution that’s optimal for them. At first they will, of course, buy it—but they will do everything to bring the technology in-house and produce it domestically," he notes.
Zinovskyi adds that by observing our entire "menagerie of drones" and how it is employed in war, foreign partners can pick the most effective solution for themselves.
"Take interceptors, for example, they can choose now. There are multirotor platforms, there are fixed-wing platforms, and so on. Foreign partners are watching what works and how," the TAF Industries deputy director explains.
But is there any point in stocking specific drones when the situation is changing dynamically? That is essentially what our partners will be doing now, since they do not plan to "get drawn" into a full-scale war.
The situation is certainly changing, Zinovskyi stresses, but differently across sectors of the front. What doesn’t work in one sector may continue to perform excellently in another.
"We are a large country with a vast front, so in some places we do need this "menagerie", because we employ all of it in differing conditions. Europeans understand that many of the conditions present in our war simply cannot exist for them physically, so they can limit themselves to certain solutions," he says.
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It is obvious that the "menagerie of drones" that emerged in Ukraine has certain advantages. However, at this stage it is no longer needed. Manufacturers should now concentrate on specific niches and produce—if not complete solutions, then at least components—which will further strengthen national security. The focus should be not only on hardware but also on the corresponding software; without it, the hardware will remain just that.
In the near term, the market is headed for consolidation—larger players will join with smaller ones to meet the military’s requirements, for whom this whole drone effort first gathered pace back in 2014. The state will, on balance, facilitate rather than hinder this, especially given the de facto opening of arms exports, including unmanned technologies.
Ukraine will continue to set the pace in the industry, as we are virtually the only country that almost every night, beats back waves of hostile UAVs with makeshift, "penny-worth" means, while NATO countries scramble fifth-generation fighters to destroy them, with each shot costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Ukraine has an invaluable resource—people capable of devising innovative solutions for diverse tasks under constrained resources. The problem, however, is scaling those solutions. The state has only recently begun moving in that direction. Arms exports could potentially accelerate this progress by bringing new investment into the sector and that investment will come. The feats achieved by the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the Security Service of Ukraine, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine and other defense agencies using drones, have not gone unnoticed. Both allies and adversaries see the results.
