UK to provide Ukraine with thousands of Octopus interceptor UAVs each month

Screengrab depicting the Octopus interceptor from a video posted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on 24 October 2025. (Office of the President of Ukraine )

The UK defence industry will “ramp up” production of Octopus interceptor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and provide Ukraine with thousands every month, a UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) representative confirmed to Janes on 12 January.

UK's Defence Secretary John Healey announced, during his visit to Ukraine, that production of Octopus UAVs will begin in January 2026, according to a 9 December 2025 MoD press release. Ukraine's Minister of Defence Denys Shmyhal said that starting in February 2026 the production of Octopus UAVs would reach 1,000 per month.

“Octopus UAVs were developed by Ukrainian engineers but will be built by the UK defence industry in the UK,” the MoD representative said. No timeframe for their production was given, and the name of the UK company involved was not disclosed for security reasons.

The Octopus is a cylinder-shaped UAV with four propellers and a series of sensors in its nose section. Octopus interceptors “use front-line battlefield data to defeat Shahed-style [Geran] drones”, the representative said. The data is based on “learning what Ukraine's needs are and lessons they are learning from using the weapon”, they clarified.

The design is updated every six weeks in order to “stay ahead of Russian tactics” as per the MoD release. Live battlefield data feeds into UK production lines, which allows for rapid upgrades and faster delivery under the UK-Ukraine 100-year partnership, according to the MoD.

Project Octopus is part of an overarching defence technology sharing agreement between the UK and Ukraine called the Lyra programme. The Lyra programme is an example of a shift from donation to joint procurement.