The West may soon need Ukraine’s weapons as much as Ukraine needs ours

As Ukraine s domestic defence-tech sector has rapidly scaled through wartime innovation and decentralized procurement, the military relationship between the West and Ukraine is evolving into a symbiotic exchange, says Tom Bailey When Russian tanks streamed over Ukraine’s border in 2022, Western military aid was vital for Ukraine’s heroic defence. But as the war has ground on, Ukraine is increasingly becoming reliant upon its own locally developed and produced technology and weapons. In April this year, the Ukrainian government noted that over 50 per cent of weapons used on the frontline were Ukrainian-made. Ukraine’s Defence Procurement Agency reported that 95 per cent of the drones it procured were Ukrainian-made. This was largely achieved through the necessity of war. In the early days of the war, civilian volunteers were adapting commercially available drones for military use, often working directly with frontline units. Since then, Ukraine’s government has initiated reforms