UK's Windracers to establish T&E, MRO facility in Ukraine by January 2027

Windracers Ultra UAS showcased at the company's launch event on 15 January 2026. (Janes/Tamara Rozouvan)

UK unmanned aircraft system (UAS) manufacturer Windracers is looking to establish a facility in Ukraine by January 2027 for test and evaluation (T&E), and manufacturing, repair, and overhaul (MRO) of UASs, Windracers CEO Simon Muderack told Janes in an interview on 15 January.

“We have some physical infrastructure in place today,” Muderack said, adding, “it's maintenance and development – a bit of everything”.

Ukraine operation

Windracers will be looking to add fixed infrastructure in Ukraine as the company plans to increase the number of its Ultra UASs in the country. “More of a bricks and mortar type of presence, expanding what we already have, scaling it up, making it more permanent,” Muderack said.

The company's goal is to produce more than 100 Ultra UASs at its facilities in the United Kingdom by January 2027. “A number of those will go to Ukraine,” Muderack said. So far, Windracers has delivered dozens of its Ultra UASs to Ukraine.

Windracers previously worked with unnamed Ukrainian companies to test new sensors and payloads integrated onto the Ultra UAS in Ukraine. “In terms of manufacturing [with Ukrainian companies] we are in the very early stages,” Muderack added. He did not wish to go into details on lethal payloads being added to the Ultra UAS. However, Muderack confirmed that the Ultra platform was involved in kinetic missions as well as resupply missions and intelligence gathering in Ukraine. “I can't go into the specifics on that but by definition the delivery of a kinetic mission is when you deliver a payload that is explosive.”