Ukrspecsystems
Ukrainian maker of the Shark and PD-2 reconnaissance drones, built in Ukraine and, since February 2026, at a factory in Mildenhall, Suffolk.
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What It Is
Ukrspecsystems builds fixed-wing reconnaissance drones for Ukraine’s armed forces. It was founded in 2014, at the start of Russia’s intervention in eastern Ukraine. The company says it began as a volunteer project and won its first Ministry of Defence contract, for the PD-1 drone, in 2017. It says its first export order, from a foreign defence ministry it does not name, followed in 2018.
It lists the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence, the Air Force, the Security Service and the State Border Guard Service among its customers. The British government calls it one of Ukraine’s largest drone makers. Every drone on its website is a reconnaissance aircraft.
Key Products
Shark was unveiled in October 2022. The company says it went from design to first flight in under six months, for deep reconnaissance and for adjusting fire from Western long-range weapons such as HIMARS. The first version weighed 10 kg and had a 60 km link. The current Shark-D weighs up to 13.5 kg, with an 80 km link and up to four hours in the air.
Shark-M is the long-range successor. Ukrspecsystems quotes up to seven hours of flight and a 180 km encrypted link built on Silvus radios. It says the aircraft can also relay signals for strike drones. A smaller Mini Shark completes the family.
PD-2 is the larger aircraft, flown either as a vertical take-off drone or from a runway. The company gives a take-off weight of up to 55 kg, an 11 kg payload, a 180 km link and more than eight hours of flight. It entered mass production in 2021, at first for civilian work. Ukrspecsystems also sells its own camera gimbals and launch, antenna and battery equipment.
Business and Financial Position
Ukrspecsystems is private and publishes no revenue, funding or production figures. Its UK company, Ukrspecsystems Ltd, was incorporated on 2 April 2025 with a registered office in London.
In September 2025 it announced a £200 million investment in East Anglia over three years. The plan is an 11,000 square metre factory at Mildenhall and a flight-test and training site at Elmsett, with up to 500 jobs. Luke Pollard, the UK defence readiness and industry minister, opened the Mildenhall factory on 25 February 2026 with Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s ambassador. Pollard called it “a vote of confidence in UK support”.
The site is to build the PD-2, Shark and Mini Shark. Rory Chamberlain, the UK managing director, told AFP it should make up to 200 drones a month within weeks and up to 1,000 in the long term.
Why It Matters
Ukraine’s long-range artillery and strike drones need someone to find and track the target first, and the Shark was built for that job. The UK Ministry of Defence says the PD-2 and Shark-M pass targets to strike drones on their own. It also says the company’s drones have contributed to almost $3 billion of damage since the full-scale invasion. It does not say where that figure comes from.
The government says Mildenhall lets the drones be built and scaled without interruption. Its output has not been published, and the 1,000-a-month figure is a long-term goal. So far, Britain’s own orders total more than 80 Shark and Mini Shark drones, all built in Ukraine.