2024-07-06 08:14:45
According to the drone coalition, deliveries of the next package of drones to the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be phased in in July. More than 2,500 combat drones of various types and performance worth four million euros will be delivered to Ukraine. The first shipment of the large package – 300 drones will be delivered in the next few days.
Minister of Defense Andris Sprūds (P) stated that drones were produced by seven Latvian companies.
This year, the Ministry of Defense has allocated 20 million euros for the needs of the drone coalition, of which more than ten million are intended for the purchase of drones from the Latvian defense industry.
In April and May of this year, Latvia sent 135 combat drones of various capacities and electronic warfare equipment worth approximately one million euros to Ukraine. Until the end of the year, the Ministry of Defense will continue to purchase combat drones manufactured in Latvia, primarily FPV-type drones that can be controlled from a first-person point of view.
The procurement amounts will be divided into several procurements in order to provide an opportunity for companies to gradually increase production volumes, as well as to provide an opportunity to adapt to changing technical specifications, in accordance with Ukraine’s requirements.
There are currently 14 countries in the international drone coalition – Latvia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, France, Estonia, Italy, Canada, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany and Sweden. In total, the members of the drone coalition have so far raised more than half a billion euros for the supply of drones to Ukraine.
Also, the member states are working on the creation of a common fund so that they can acquire financing for the production of drones in the coalition countries more quickly and efficiently.
2024-07-06 08:14:45