KYIV, July 14 — Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov has been a key figure in Ukraine’s drone warfare efforts. The mechanics here are straightforward: use digital platforms to coordinate drone donations and production, then push domestic output to industrial scale. Appointed on August 29, 2019, Fedorov has become a key figure in Ukraine’s effort to turn software skills into battlefield hardware.
The ‘Army of Drones’ project launched in July 2022. It raised funds to purchase thousands of drones — including FPV models, Bayraktar TB2s, and naval drones.
The catch is that fundraising alone cannot sustain a war of attrition. So Fedorov’s ministry shifted focus to scaling domestic production. By late 2024, Ukraine was producing over 100,000 FPV drones per month.
Fedorov has stated the target is 1 million drones per year by 2025. On closer reading, that is a dramatic ramp-up from a country that had almost no drone industry before the full-scale invasion.
The ministry also works on electronic warfare countermeasures — a necessary hedge, since Russian jamming has evolved rapidly. Fedorov has facilitated the integration of Western-supplied drones, including the Switchblade and Phoenix Ghost. But the strategic bet is on domestic manufacturing.
Follow the money: every drone built in Ukraine keeps hard currency inside the economy and reduces dependence on foreign supply chains that can be disrupted by politics or logistics.
The technology offset
Fedorov has been a vocal advocate for using technology to offset Russian numerical advantages in the war. The logic is simple: Ukraine cannot match Russia in artillery shells or troop numbers, so it must compete on innovation and speed of adoption. The ‘Army of Drones’ project is the clearest expression of that strategy — a digital platform that lets civilians fund specific drone purchases, with transparent tracking of where the equipment goes.
The ministry’s role goes beyond procurement. It coordinates production schedules, certifies new drone designs, and works to standardize components across multiple manufacturers.
This is not a traditional defense ministry operation; it looks more like a tech startup accelerator, but with missiles flying overhead.
What to watch next
The 1-million-drones-per-year target by 2025 will test whether Ukraine can sustain this production tempo. Raw materials, skilled labor, and electronic components are all constraints. Fedorov’s digital platforms will need to solve coordination problems faster than Russian electronic warfare can adapt.
The bet is that speed of iteration beats mass — but that thesis has not yet been proven at scale.
