If drone companies don't have their kit on the frontline in Ukraine they 'might as well give up,' says UK minister
Drone warfare is evolving at breakneck speed, with Ukraine's battlefields becoming a testing ground where the most innovative defense tech companies can refine their products in real war conditions.
This means that it's increasingly vital for those looking to develop the tech to have a presence there.
Luke Pollard, the UK's armed forces minister, said on Wednesday: "If you are a drone company and you do not have your kit on the frontline in Ukraine, you might as well give up."
Pollard, who was addressing the Drone Summit 2025 in Latvia, added that "we can see the effectiveness of Western drone technology in the hands of brilliant operators in Ukraine."
Valerii Churkin, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, echoed Pollard's remarks, saying that defense tech manufacturers must have a physical presence in Ukraine.
He also told the summit that drones can take too long to reach Ukraine, and that "we need to switch fully to a wartime production approach: fast, simple, scalable."
"Most importantly, decisions must be based on real battlefield experience, not from spreadsheets," he said.
European defense companies, including Portugal's Tekever, Lithuania's RSI Europe, and Estonia's Milrem Robots, are among those rapidly adapting to the demands of the battlefield in Ukraine.
Kuldar Väärsi, the CEO of Milrem Robots, which develops military robotics and autonomous systems, told Business Insider that his company updates its products based on their performance in Ukraine.
"What we have learned and changed and implemented in our systems is everything related to EW, communication, and cyber," he said. "This is a totally different environment than in peacetime training or exercise environment."
Milrem Robots has a team that regularly visits Ukraine, meeting with different military units and working directly with operators responsible for their equipment.
"We listen to Ukrainian troops very carefully and try to analyze and synthesize," he added.
And it's about to take its on-the-ground involvement one step further, with a team based in Ukraine to "be closer to Ukrainian forces and to support them even better," Väärsi said.
Tomas Milašauskas, the CEO of RSI Europe, told BI that "our mission is very simple. To produce the military equipment that helps Ukraine win."
More than 100 drone companies, alongside military officials and government ministers, gathered in Latvia for the one-day summit.
Ruben Brekelmans, the Netherlands' defense minister, told those present that drones had "fundamentally changed modern warfare," calling them "the most important innovation in the defense domain."
"Every day we learn new things from our collaboration with Ukraine," he said.
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