Ukraine's drone marketplace delivered 1.2 million UAVs in a year — Russia is building its own copy

In its first year of operation, the DOT-Chain Defence weapons marketplace delivered more than 1.2 million drones and other equipment worth 69.2 billion hryvnias to Ukraine's Defense Forces, according to the country's Defense Procurement Agency.

The average delivery time from manufacturers' warehouses has dropped from months to weeks. The system began as a pilot for 12 Ukrainian Armed Forces brigades with just a few dozen FPV drone models, and has since scaled to serve 486 combat units across all security and defense forces. Its catalog now covers all major types of unmanned systems, their ammunition, and electronic warfare equipment — 1,181 items from 300 manufacturers.

International partners are studying the DOT-Chain Defence experience, including the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. NATO, France, and the United States have already announced plans to launch similar drone marketplaces of their own.

The agency noted that Russian military and propaganda resources are increasingly analyzing DOT-Chain Defence as one of the key reasons behind the rapid growth of Ukrainian defense technology. The impact has been so significant that Russia has announced the launch of its own version of the Ukrainian military marketplace.

Earlier, the Army+ app introduced a training course on the DOT-Chain Defence platform, walking users through the entire process: from gaining access and searching for needed equipment to handling paperwork, tracking deliveries, and receiving hardware.