Ukrainian drone makers target Asia as Taiwan tensions spur demand

TOKYO/TAIPEI, June 19 - The CEO of UFORCE, a Ukrainian producer of attack drones, flew to Tokyo in April with a pitch for Japanese officials and defense contractors: build thousands of our drones to defend yourself and allies.

Days earlier, U.S. troops had used waterborne UFORCE drones to sink a ship during a secretive exercise held where the South China Sea meets the Pacific. And for years, the firm’s Magura surface vessel has helped turn parts of the Black Sea into no-go zones for the Russian navy.

While the maritime geography of East Asia is very different, “the impact is extremely similar,” UFORCE CEO Oleg Rogynskyy told Reuters.

The details of UFORCE's meetings in Japan have not been previously reported. They’re part of a larger push by Ukrainian drone makers to tap a military-spending surge in Asia by U.S. allies eager to ward off an increasingly assertive China and deter a conflict over Taiwan, according to interviews with 20 people, including defense contractors and Ukrainian and Japanese government officials.

These defense contractors are seeking to capitalize on Ukraine's reputation as a master of drone warfare, which has helped an otherwise-outgunned Kyiv hold out for more than four years against Russia. Ukraine has also leveraged its expertise into diplomatic and defense deals in Europe and the Middle East, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in February that Kyiv was "ready to open up our technologies" like sea drones to Japan.

Former Japanese defense minister Itsunori Onodera, who remains an influential lawmaker, told Reuters he welcomed the Ukrainian efforts to cooperate. Tokyo needs equipment “that is actually demonstrating effective power,” he said.

Ukrainian defense firms like UFORCE, Skyeton and General Cherry hope to find production partners in Japan, an industrial heavyweight that this year cast off longstanding restrictions on arms exports. The Japanese military has hosted at least one previously unreported demonstration of Ukrainian drone tech from Swarmer, the firm said. But discussions between other Japanese officials and Ukrainian firms were characterised as exploratory by three people involved in those talks.

A spokesperson for Japan's defense ministry declined to comment about its engagement with Ukrainian drone makers but said Tokyo was "examining all possible options to ensure acquisition of equipment needed for Japan’s ‘new way of warfare.’”

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has warned Tokyo could be dragged into conflict over Taiwan. China has not ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control and regularly holds military drills around the democratically governed island.

‘UNMANNED HELLSCAPE’ TO FORTIFY TAIWAN

Executives from three Ukrainian firms and a drone association said they were also exploring business with Taiwan, though they were cautious given that Kyiv has no formal diplomatic ties with the island, which China claims as its territory.

Washington is legally required to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Drones would be key to any military response, Adm. Samuel Paparo, the top U.S. commander in the region, said in 2024, adding they could create an “unmanned hellscape” that buys the U.S. and its allies time to react.

Naval experts like Bryan Clark of the Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think-tank, said that drones will also be needed to plug gaps in the chain of islands hemming in China that runs from Japan through Taiwan and the Philippines. The U.S. drone exercise in April took place off Itbayat, a Philippine island just 100 miles south of Taiwan, according to UFORCE and the U.S. military.

China’s foreign ministry and Taiwan’s defense and economy ministries declined to comment, as did Ukraine’s presidential office.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Pacific Command did not answer questions about Ukraine's efforts to build drone partnerships in Asia but said it had met Ukrainian drone makers "to discuss how Black Sea operations could apply to the Indo-Pacific."

GATEWAY TO ASIA

Japan in 2022 embarked on a historic defense build-up spurred by concern that the Ukraine war could inspire a similar conflict in East Asia.

The rearmament of Japan accelerated when the hawkish Takaichi came to power late last year. She has urged Japanese firms to ramp up weapons production, including unmanned systems. The country’s defense equipment makers — many of whom earn more money selling consumer goods, including in China — have long been wary of the reputational risks that come with dealing arms.

Tokyo has allocated nearly $2 billion to support drone systems in this year’s defense budget. Japan plans to raise annual production of drones to 80,000 by the end of the decade, up from what the Japan UAV Association says were the roughly 1,000 manufactured in 2024. But that is still far fewer than the 7 million Ukraine is aiming to build this year.

Among the Ukrainian defense contractors seeking Japanese partners to manufacture military hardware for Asian markets are surveillance drone maker Skyeton and General Cherry, which specializes in kamikaze drones.

“Japan is the best way to the Asian market,” General Cherry co-founder Stanislav Gryshyn told Reuters during a recent visit to Tokyo where he exhibited at a drone show, met with potential local partners and networked with Japanese government officials at an event hosted by the Ukrainian embassy.

Skyeton, which says its long-range drones could help patrol Japan’s 14,000-plus islands, also held meetings in the country last year.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the Philippines, Yuliia Fediv, told Reuters that Kyiv has been in discussions with Manila over drone-technology cooperation.

Any Ukrainian drones sold to the Philippines would likely be made in Japan, which has superior manufacturing expertise, two Ukrainian drone executives told Reuters. Manila, which has been locked in a series of increasingly tense maritime confrontations with China, is already one of Japan’s main defense customers.

Fediv declined to elaborate further and the Philippines defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

U.S.-listed Ukrainian drone software maker Swarmer has run demonstrations for a unit of Japan’s military, its president Alex Fink told Reuters.

The late April test involved using its AI software to coordinate a swarm of drones in a seek-and-hit mission in Japan, he said.

The demonstration was arranged by Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten, Fink said. The firm’s billionaire founder Hiroshi ‘Mickey’ Mikitani has been among Japan’s most vocal supporters of Ukraine.

Rakuten declined to comment on the demonstration but said it was supporting Swarmer’s expansion plans in Japan.

CUTTING CHINA OUT

Ukrainian companies have also been pushing to secure components from friendly East Asian markets to reduce their dependence on China.

Beijing produces many drone components and has placed some restrictions on their export. Some of these parts, however, are also made in Japan and Taiwan, which are home to many suppliers of cameras, microelectronics and other components.

The Ukrainian drone association IRON in May brought a delegation of about a dozen members to meet with Taiwanese firms in the industrial hub of Taichung.

The main aim of the gathering, the details of which Reuters is reporting for the first time, was to help Ukrainian firms to find parts suppliers, said IRON chief executive Volodymyr Cherniuk.

In some instances, the cooperation goes deeper: Elson Zhang of Jiin Ming Industry, one of the Taiwanese firms that participated, told Reuters they were working on an early-stage project with a Ukrainian company on a drone that may be sold back to Taiwan. He declined to name his partner.

Cherniuk told Reuters he plans to take several of his members to Tokyo later this year with the aim of finding Japanese production partners.

“We would be happy for our drones to protect any country from invasion,” said Cherniuk. “We know the best how it feels.” REUTERS