Ukrainian Drone Firms Place High in Pentagon Contest Amid U.S. Export-Control Concerns

U.S. export laws threaten to slow technological cooperation, company executives said Friday. A joint effort of Ukraine’s SkyFall and the UK’s SkyCutter won the initial competition of the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance effort.

Several other Ukrainian drone companies took spots on the leaderboard. The Pentagon’s Drone Dominance effort would grow to $54 billion under the White House’s 2027 budget plan. Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael welcomed the Ukrainian performance.

“We're excited about that,” he said. Emil Michael spoke to reporters at the Pentagon last week. “These companies now that have gotten big and had a lot of expertise, if they're willing to do it in America, because we want to control our own supply chains.

I think that's excellent,” Emil Michael added. Swarmer, which makes AI software to control multiple drones simultaneously, has become one of the clearest examples of investor enthusiasm. The company’s shares rose 700 percent on its first day of trading.

U.S. field operations for Swarmer. S. export laws threaten to squelch efforts to develop technology on Friday. -German company, to develop and build drones in the United States.

-developed tech to Ukraine. Mykola Mazur is the CTO of Airlogix. “That is not fast, I would say.

C. Joseph Gagnard called for faster processing of export approvals for Ukrainian-origin technology. “There has to be some sort of middle ground where the government says, ‘OK, this technology is born in Ukraine.

This technology was shared with the United States for our benefit. There's got to be some sort of expedited ITAR process that is going to encourage countries to do this—Ukraine specifically,’” he said on Friday. Patrick Tucker published the article on May 11, 2026.

@DefenseOne reported that Ukrainian companies are attracting American private investment while facing regulatory friction on technology transfer.