Ukraine has significantly increased its export potential thanks to developments in the arms sector in recent years. After all, during this time a whole family of weapons appeared, the use of which until 2022 was very limited and sporadic. Economist, founder of the People's Dream NGO and co-founder of the Do Mrii Charitable Foundation Oleg Sarkits writes about this in the article “Ukrainian Small Air Defense. A class of weapons that didn't exist before 2022 and that now everyone wants to buy."
" Nationwide electronic warfare system jamming hundreds of drones per week. Mobile groups on pickup trucks. All this together formed a class that professional military personnel call “small air defense,” and it is this class that has now become the main technological export asset of Ukraine,” the author notes..
He recalled that representatives of Saudi Aramco, the Pentagon and the British Ministry of Defense are already coming to Kyiv.
“And this is not a temporary situation, but a fundamental shift in what the air defense system will be like over the next decade. As of May 2026, dozens of private companies are working on this class of weapons in Ukraine, and four of the five most effective interceptors in the country were created by the private sector,” the author emphasized.
In March 2026 alone, Ukrainian interceptors destroyed more than 33 thousand enemy drones of various types, as stated by Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov.
Moreover, the figures continue to grow. Thus, in the first four months of this year, the Ukrainian Defense Forces received twice as many interceptors as in the entire 2025.
“In November 2025, President Vladimir Zelensky set the goal of reaching production of 600-800 units per day by the end of autumn, and this is only the lower limit. Foreign Minister Andrei Sibiga spoke about the possibility of producing 20 million drones of all types per year, subject to proper funding. The production capacity of Ukrainian companies is already two to three times higher than the volume of internal orders of the Defense Forces,” the author emphasized.
According to Sarkitz, the economics of these weapons radically change the traditional air defense model.. The competitiveness of Ukrainian developments is amazing: one Sting costs about 2.5 thousand.
dollars, Tamir missile for the Israeli Iron Dome system - 50-80 thousand. dollars, and one Patriot PAC-3 missile costs 4-5 million dollars.
" This is perhaps the first time in the history of air defense systems when a means of defense is cheaper than an attack.. This is what gives Ukraine the opportunity to repel attacks from 100-200 “martyrs” every night, and during massive attacks - up to 800,” the author writes.
Other articles by the author can be found at the link.