The United States and Ukraine are moving toward one of the most critical defense partnerships to emerge from the country’s war with Russia. Washington and Kyiv are negotiating a landmark drone and military technology agreement that would allow Ukrainian companies to export battlefield-tested systems to the U.S. and manufacture drones on American soil through joint ventures.
This represents a significant shift in the bilateral relationship. Four years ago, when Russia’s full-scale invasion began, Ukraine was dependent on Western weapons and financing. Today, Kyiv is a source of military technologies and battlefield expertise that the U.S. military desperately wants to acquire. The Pentagon has requested access to test Ukrainian drones and electronic warfare systems while Kyiv seeks guarantees protecting Ukrainian defense companies and preserving domestic supply needs.
Ukraine’s success here has been hard-earned.
Under constant missile and drone strikes and manpower pressures, Ukrainian companies developed cheap drone systems at scale, integrated AI-assisted targeting and expanded electronic warfare capabilities, and redesigned platforms within weeks based on combat feedback. Ukrainian defense exports are expanding across Europe and the Middle East.
Traditional defense industries across Europe and the U.S. operate through long procurement timelines and bureaucratic production structures. In contrast, Ukraine built a wartime military technology system capable of rapid adjustment. One Ukrainian manufacturer alone plans to produce more than 3 million first-person-view military drones in 2026, compared to roughly 300,000 produced by the U.S. during all of 2025.
But this is a good deal for both sides.
Washington gets access to Ukraine’s latest technology, while Kyiv will deepen its relationship with Washington. That will surely help as Ukraine faces critical shortfalls in American-supplied weapons systems, from air defense interceptors to long-range munitions.
Moreover, a new relationship is clearly forming. The partnership resembles the American-Israeli defense relationship, in which Israel evolved from a recipient of U.S. security assistance into a source of battlefield-tested military innovation.
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The Iran war has shown Washington the dangers and necessities of drone warfare.
Facing the same Iranian-designed Shahed systems that Russia has regularly deployed against Ukrainian cities, U.S. forces and their Gulf allies confronted a threat that American defense industries had not prioritized. Both the U.S. and Ukraine are now preparing to reap the benefits of the latter’s battle-tested victories.