Since Russia invaded more than four years ago, Ukraine has become a global leader in military drone innovation KYIV, Ukraine -- Since Russia invaded more than four years ago, Ukraine has become a global leader in military drone innovation, enabling its forces to grind a much larger enemy to a stalemate. But this technological force multiplier has come with an unsettling vulnerability: Ukrainian drone makers are highly dependent on electronics made by China, a key Russian ally. Ukraine’s greatest fear is that the Chinese government could severely restrict its access to these critical parts.
It also worries that Russian defense companies that need these same supplies could be given preferential treatment by Chinese factories. Over the past two years, Ukraine has sought to break its dependence on China by expanding domestic manufacturing and importing more supplies from Taiwan, Europe and the U.S. That has minimized its need for Chinese-made electric motors, flight controllers and other parts.
Yet Ukraine cannot entirely break free from China, whose lower costs and vastly greater production capacity cannot be matched by allied suppliers. While the restrictions have not stopped the flow of Chinese components to Ukraine, they have caused delays and driven up costs, pushing Ukrainian companies toward intermediaries in third countries. It said it opposes the use of civilian drones for military purposes, and urged all sides to find a political settlement of the war.
Ukraine has earned worldwide recognition for its cutting-edge drone industry, designing and assembling systems that have changed modern warfare. Yet many of the materials and components that go into Ukrainian drones cannot be localized anytime soon. Magnets, motors, chips, thermal sensors, battery cells and more still largely come from China, a dozen Ukrainian manufacturers said.
Switching entirely to Western alternatives could raise costs by as much as 60% and cut production by a similar amount, said Oleksandr Yakovenko of TAF Industries, a major Ukrainian defense company. That is not a viable tradeoff, Yakovenko and other executives said. Still, Ukrainian drone makers have begun to wean themselves off of China.
Three years ago, the Ukrainian drone maker Vyriy relied upon China for nearly 90% of the components in its attack drones. This increasing self-reliance has an extra benefit in the midst of a grueling war. Drones and drone components made domestically can be redesigned in a matter of days to meet urgent demands on the battlefield, whereas it can take months for such changes to filter through foreign supply chains, said Artur Savchii, an analyst at the Kyiv-based think tank Serpens Center for International Security.
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