Grants for missiles and radars, scaled-up deep strikes and a NATO DIANA memorandum

Contests for missiles and radars

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence is launching grant competitions for the development of guided missiles and radars, the ministry’s press service said on 30 October. According to Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara, the aim is to give the security and defence forces effective means against aerial targets, cut the cost of intercepting jet-powered drones and develop radar production in Ukraine.

“Our requirements are clear: effectiveness, affordable cost, interoperability between systems and sufficient supply volumes,” Khmara said. He named ballistic missiles, cheap cruise missiles, high-speed drones and guided aerial bombs as the main Russian threats. He set a separate task for manufacturers: finding new ways to counter guided glide bombs and reduce their effectiveness.

The ministry expects Ukrainian companies to deliver their own navigation solutions, stronger electronic warfare, radars capable of detecting low-observable targets and affordable systems that can be scaled up in production. “We need asymmetric impact. We need technologies that change the rules of the game in our favour,” the minister said. In the summer, the Brave1 platform launched a new stage of its grant programme for drone components.

Deep strikes “from Yamal to Western Siberia”

President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had received a report on long-range strikes carried out in September and October. “Today, Russian facilities along the line from Yamal to Western Siberia are within reach of our deep strikes, and we are working so that our drones and missiles can reach even more distant Russian territories,” he wrote.

Based on the report, key directions for the further use of Ukraine’s long-range capabilities have been set. “Our deep-strike units will be scaled up — both on the basis of the capabilities of the SBU, in particular the Alpha special operations centre, and on the basis of our intelligence services and other components of the Defence Forces,” the president said. He called long-range capability one of the real guarantees of Ukraine’s independence now and a long-term security guarantee after the war. He said he had also spoken with manufacturers of the relevant weapons that day.

Ukrinform recalls that on 23–24 October Ukrainian forces hit, among other targets, the main production building of Proton-Electrotex in Oryol, the Togliattikauchuk plant in Togliatti and an aircraft at Yeysk airfield.

The Mi-8 the drones waited for

Ukraine’s Third Army Corps showed how strike drones can hunt even helicopters. A crew operating Hornet kamikaze drones from the SKYFOM strike-wing platoon spotted a Russian Mi-8 during a raid on enemy logistics in Luhansk region. The helicopter’s cruising speed exceeded that of the drones, so the crew waited for it to land and then struck near its fuel tanks. A second Hornet confirmed the result: according to the corps, the helicopter burned out completely.

Memorandum with NATO DIANA

Ukraine and NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) signed a memorandum of cooperation. The defence ministry says it is the first agreement of its kind between DIANA and a NATO partner country. “DIANA opens up access for Ukraine to NATO’s defence expertise and infrastructure, helping promising technologies move from idea to practical application,” the ministry said. Joint Ukraine–NATO projects will receive additional funding, and Ukrainian developers will gain new testing opportunities and a better understanding of Alliance standards.

What next

The defence ministry is expected to publish the terms of the missile and radar grant competitions separately. For the industry, the signal is clear: the state is betting on cheap, mass-produced interception and domestic radar production.