DSEI 2025: UK launches Project Octopus to deliver thousands of interceptor drones to Ukraine
A Shahed-136 drone. (Photo: Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0)
The programme will work to build and deploy the drones to Ukraine to support its fight against Russia, coming a day after Poland shot down 19 Russian drones in its airspace.
UK defence secretary John Healey has outlined new plans to send thousands of interceptor missiles to Ukraine every month, with the Ukrainian-developed UAV to be shared with the UK to help in the fight against Russia.
Speaking at DSEI, Healey outlined ‘Project Octopus’, a new partnership between the UK and Ukraine. Under the project, Ukraine would share technology developed for a new interceptor drone that had proved highly effective against Iranian-made, Russian-deployed Shahed one-way attack drones and cost less than 10% of the Russian systems destroyed.
According to Healey, the UK would in turn “rapidly develop” this Ukrainian interceptor drone – with
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