Defense Industry
UK invests £113 million in Ukrainian drone maker UFORCE to build uncrewed boats in Britain
The National Wealth Fund is putting £113 million into UFORCE, a Ukrainian-founded company based in the UK, to build uncrewed boats and create hundreds of jobs, the government said on 12 November.
The UK government-backed National Wealth Fund is investing £113 million in UFORCE, a Ukrainian-founded drone company headquartered in Britain, to expand its engineering and manufacturing base in the UK. The Ministry of Defence and HM Treasury announced the investment on 12 November 2026, saying it will create hundreds of high-skilled jobs.
The money forms part of UFORCE’s $700 million (more than £525 million) Series A funding round, according to the UK government announcement. The company develops what the government calls combat-proven autonomous and uncrewed systems for sea, land and air.
What the investment covers
UFORCE will grow its UK engineering, training and production team and build a British supply chain, with hulls, engines, electronics and fit-out sourced in the UK. The government says more than 70% of the content of each UK-built boat will come from British suppliers. The jobs will be in engineering, software, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing, and the company will also develop apprenticeships with universities and colleges.
The UK will serve as a base to support allies such as the nations of the Joint Expeditionary Force, with a particular focus on capabilities for operating in northern seas, the announcement says. The expansion is also meant to make Britain a hub for the software, command-and-control and production work behind UFORCE’s global growth.
Demonstration from HMS Prince of Wales
The announcement says the technology was tested aboard HMS Prince of Wales in Norway. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting piloted a UFORCE MV7 uncrewed vessel from the carrier while the vessel was more than 1,500 miles away in the Atlantic near Portugal. The carrier was in Oslo this week, where the UK and its partners signed the Northern Navies Initiative.
What officials said
Streeting said: “Ukraine is rewriting the rules of warfare,” adding that in a few years the UK has gone from training Ukraine to being trained by Ukraine. Chancellor John Healey, quoted in the same release, said the investment would strengthen both economic and national security.
Oliver Holbourn, chief executive of the National Wealth Fund, described the deal as a testament to the UK-Ukraine relationship. UFORCE chief executive Oleg Rogynskyy said the UK had been an early supporter of Ukraine’s defence technology ecosystem and that the company could now help the UK develop its own in return. The government presented the investment as an example of the UK-Ukraine 100 Year Partnership.
Why it matters
The deal shows Western governments moving to bring Ukrainian wartime drone know-how into their own defence industries. Production in Britain is intended to supply the UK, Ukraine and allied nations, according to the government. The release gives no delivery schedule, contract value for the Royal Navy or number of jobs beyond “hundreds”.
