Ukraine moves to replace Chinese DJI drones with its own

Ukraine is moving to buy homegrown reconnaissance drones to replace the Mavic, the small Chinese-made quadcopter its troops have relied on since the start of the war, after testing models from nine Ukrainian manufacturers.

Brave1, the government-backed defense technology cluster, said on social media on Thursday that it ran the tests with Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence. Drones “that proved effective on the testing ground and met military requirements are now advancing to the procurement stage,” it said. The other manufacturers got detailed feedback to improve their designs.

Brave1 didn’t name the companies, say how many of the nine passed, or give a size or value for the coming contracts.

The Mavic, made by China’s DJI, is a folding consumer drone built for aerial photography. Both Ukrainian and Russian troops have flown it for years to spot targets and watch the front line.

“The Mavic has become a key tool for tactical-level reconnaissance,” Brave1 wrote. “But the war is constantly raising the requirements for UAVs.”

As the band of ground watched by drones on both sides grows wider, the cluster said, units need aircraft that can fly longer, reach farther and keep working under Russian jamming. “Civilian drones are increasingly unable to meet these requirements,” it added.

Brave1 listed four things a Ukrainian replacement must do. It has to resist electronic warfare and fly without GPS, stay in the air for at least 60 minutes, and let operators control it from a safer distance. It also needs an interface soldiers already know, so units don’t have to retrain.

“The goal, therefore, is not to create a copy of the Mavic,” the cluster said, but to build a Ukrainian drone “adapted to the realities of modern warfare.”

Ukraine has been working on this for a while. In November 2024, eight Ukrainian makers of Mavic-style drones flew test missions of up to 10 km (6 miles) for military and government officials, and two of them had already been approved for military use.

Brave1 now links more than 2,500 Ukrainian defense companies. Military units have received 774,000 drones and other items ordered through its online marketplace, worth $1.15 billion, according to the Ministry of Defence.

Brave1 said it wants Ukrainian drones that “can quickly adapt to changes on the battlefield and can be scaled up.”