Project Octopus: UK to begin start mass production of war drones for Ukraine

The UK will mass produce drones for the Ukrainian military under an initiative named Project Octopus. Defence minister Luke Pollard said the project would commence within weeks.

Scalability

Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty submitted a written question on 14 January:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the full scope of Project Octopus.

Pollard replied on 23 January:

Project OCTOPUS is the first joint UK-Ukraine defence industrial project initiated under Project LYRA and was announced on 10 September 2025 by the Prime Minister.

The war between Russia and Ukraine has drastically reshaped drone warfare. Many countries, including the US, have now started shaping industry and strategy around mass UAV mass production.

Pollard continued:

Under Project OCTOPUS, the UK and Ukraine will work together to rapidly optimise an Ukrainian designed air defence interceptor for mass production, with the first units anticipated to start being produced in the UK in the coming weeks, before being sent to Ukraine for testing and operational deployment.

He added that the program would be creating UAVs in massive numbers:

The project aims to enable production at scale, with a target of being able to produce thousands of drones per month to support Ukraine’s defence needs.

Clearly drone warfare has come a long way from the days of lone unmanned aircraft circling targets in Iraq and Afghanistan for days and weeks at a time.

Interceptor drones

In September 2025, Defence Debrief produced a video explaining some of the concepts and context behind the project:

The project was also touted at the Defence and Security Equipment International event (DSEI) — east London’s dictator-filled arms fair — in 2025. Defence secretary Jon Healey said:

For Ukraine, this means they can better protect their people, their homeland…for Britain, it means we have access to the best and developing battlefield technology for our own forces.

The UK military announced another drone project on 24 January 2026. Project NYX will develop drones which can effectively operate as ‘wingmen’ for Apache attack helicopters.

The government said in a press release:

When completed the drones will be able to function as ‘loyal wingmen,’ working alongside crewed Apache attack helicopters to perform a variety of complex tasks such as reconnaissance and surveillance in contested areas, strike and target acquisition and electronic warfare.

Luke Pollard said:

These drones of the future will make the British Army more effective and lethal by enhancing our ability to strike, survive and win on the battlefield.

Project NYX represents the cutting edge of the Defence Industrial Strategy, working with leading British industry partners to ensure the UK remains at the forefront of autonomous military technology.

The watchdog Drone Wars UK has connected the AI firm Helsing with several projects for mass drone warfare. Helsing recently opened a UK facility to produce underwater UAVs. Drone War’s excellent report on how aid money and pensions are used to hike military spending can be accessed here.

Naturally these projects are all presented as being about defence and partnership. For global arms firms they are a shareholder bonanza. Civilian populations caught between competing powers are the losers.

Featured image via the Canary