The drone coalition now has another member — the Netherlands. The country became the fifth to join the association.
Reuters writes about this with reference to the Minister of Defense of the Netherlands Kajsa Ollongren.
According to her, the Netherlands knows about the importance of drones in a full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war.
"Thatʼs why we are joining the drone coalition that Ukraine has started together with Latvia, together with other countries, to make sure that we do just that — increase production, use the latest technology and to provide exactly what Ukraine needs," Ollongren added.
The main task of the Drone Coalition is to help Ukraine scale up the production of drones and means of radio-electronic warfare for the needs of war. The Ministry of Defense said that today Ukraine produces more than 70 models of UAVs, which are legalized and operated on the front lines.
The other day, the head of the Ministry of Statistics Mykhailo Fedorov stated that Ukraine has overtaken Russia in terms of the number of kamikaze drones of the Shahed type and other long-range drones. And the production of such drones is limited only by budgetary funding.
Now Ukraine is trying to simplify the production of drones in the country and purchases from abroad. In this she is helped, in particular, by the members of the Coalition of Drones.
What other coalitions are there?
The Artillery Coalition to Strengthen the Ukrainian Army started working in Paris in January. During 2024, France plans to produce 78 Caesar self-propelled guns for Ukraine (financed in parts by France, Ukraine and allies).
In November, the Coalition for the Development of Air Defense was created at Ramstein — Germany and France became its leaders. It included 20 countries. And before that, Ukraine, Estonia and Luxembourg launched an IT coalition. There is also the Fighter Coalition, the Tank Coalition, the Coalition for Strengthening the Security of the Black Sea, and the Coalition of Opportunities for the Long-Term Defense of Ukraine and the Deterrence of Russian Aggression for Decades.