Eurosatory 2026: Ukraine’s Defence Sector Is No Longer a Collection of Companies — It Is a New Industry
I am returning from Eurosatory 2026 with an important realisation.
Many people still talk about the Ukrainian defence sector as a collection of separate successful companies. But at Eurosatory, I saw something different: I saw the birth of a new industry.
Only a few years ago, Ukrainian companies came to international exhibitions as individual manufacturers of drones, electronic warfare systems, robotic platforms or software.
Today, Ukraine is already represented as an integrated ecosystem. The exhibition featured dozens of Ukrainian companies, industry associations, state institutions and private manufacturers that are no longer competing merely with individual products, but with complete technological solutions.
Eurosatory is not just an arms exhibition held every two years. It is one of the key global platforms where military leaders, governments, industry, technology companies and investors meet to shape the future architecture of security. For more analysis on Ukraine’s transformation, follow our Ukraine coverage.
Eurosatory 2026 as a Global Security Platform
This year, the exhibition brought together more than 2,100 companies from 65 countries, more than 43,000 professional visitors from 155 countries, over 330 official delegations from 93 countries, more than 120 conferences and panel discussions, and over 450 international speakers.
Among the main themes of this year’s programme were artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, drones and counter-drone solutions, cybersecurity, space technologies, electromagnetic warfare, multi-domain operations, industrial resilience and the war economy.
Eurosatory is an international defence and security exhibition held in France, bringing together governments, armed forces, defence manufacturers, technology companies and security experts.
The Four Megathemes of Eurosatory 2026
This year, the organisers effectively built the entire programme around four megathemes that define the future of defence and security.
Multi-Domain Superiority
- Artificial intelligence
- Space
- Cyberspace
- Digital superiority
- Integrated combat networks
Remote Engagement, Land Manoeuvre and Air Mobility
- Drones
- Autonomous systems
- Robotisation
- New concepts of manoeuvre
Comprehensive Security and Crisis Management
- Protection of critical infrastructure
- Civil security
- Crisis response
Industrial Resilience and War Economy
- Defence industrial base
- Scaling production
- Supply chains
- War economy
In addition to the exhibition stands, Eurosatory included more than 100 strategic conferences, B2B matchmaking between manufacturers and buyers, meetings of official delegations, live demonstrations, demonstrations of robotic platforms, drone and C-UAS demonstrations, presentations of battle management systems and dedicated industry forums on AI, cybersecurity and autonomous systems.
Three things were especially symbolic for me: the National Pavilion of Ukraine, the presence of the Ukrainian Defence Industry Council and the large UKR ARMO TECH stand with a very powerful inscription: MADE IN UKRAINE.
What “Made in Ukraine” Means Today
Today, the inscription MADE IN UKRAINE means far more than the country of origin of a product.
It means experience gained in the most technologically advanced war of our time. It means speed of innovation. It means the ability to create solutions not in years, but in months. It means that Ukraine is gradually moving from the role of a consumer of security technologies to the role of one of their developers.
What was particularly interesting to me was that the Ukrainian presence at the exhibition already looked like two mutually reinforcing ecosystems. This is not only a story about military production; it is also a story about investment, industrial policy and international partnerships. Read more in our Defence and Investment sections.
Defence industrial ecosystem refers to the network of manufacturers, research institutions, suppliers, investors, state agencies and military customers that together create, scale and deploy defence technologies.
Two Complementary Ukrainian Defence Ecosystems
According to observations by journalists from Le Monde, the Ukrainian exhibition was effectively represented by two separate centres of gravity: a state-led framework around the Ministry of Defence, Spetstechnoexport and Ukroboronprom, and a private-sector framework around manufacturers, industry associations, new technology companies and international partnerships.
This is not accidental. It is a sign that a new architecture of the defence industry is being formed in Ukraine.
The State-Led Framework
The first track is the state-led framework: the state, Ukroboronprom and export agents. This structure is essential for strategic coordination, formal international cooperation, defence procurement and state-level industrial policy.
The Private-Sector Framework
The second track is the private-sector framework: private manufacturers, industry associations, international partners and private capital. This track is where speed, experimentation, venture logic and product adaptation are becoming decisive advantages.
That is why these photographs, for me, are not about hardware. They are about the market structure that is being born right now.
There is one more important detail. Le Monde notes that a significant number of Ukrainian companies participated in Eurosatory for the first time, while most of the Ukrainian exhibition was represented by manufacturers of unmanned systems.
Ukraine Is No Longer Just a “Country of Drones”
For an investor, this is a very important signal. Ukraine no longer looks simply like a “country of drones”. Ukraine is beginning to look like a fully fledged defence industrial ecosystem.
Today, Ukraine produces between 2.5 and 4 million drones per year, and the target for 2026 is around 7 million units of different types of unmanned systems. At the same time, the main constraints on the development of the sector are no longer technology or talent, but capital, certification and integration into global supply chains.
Unmanned systems are platforms that operate without a human pilot or operator physically on board. They include aerial drones, naval drones, ground robotic systems and autonomous or remotely controlled platforms used for reconnaissance, logistics, strike missions and battlefield intelligence.
From Technology Creation to Capital Creation
As someone who works at the intersection of investment, corporate governance, technology and international ecosystems, I increasingly see another important challenge.
We have already learnt how to create technologies. Now we need to learn how to create capital.
The next stage in the development of the Ukrainian defence sector is not only about new products. It is primarily about our own funds, our own investment platforms, our own international partnerships and our own global companies.
The Question Investors Are Asking Now
There is one more question that I increasingly hear in conversations with international investors. It is no longer: “Can Ukraine create technologies?” That question has already been answered: yes.
Today, the question is different: who will become the Ukrainian Rheinmetall? Who will become the Ukrainian Saab? Who will become the Ukrainian Anduril?
This is exactly where a new Ukrainian defence economy is beginning to take shape.
At Eurosatory 2026, I saw many international investors, corporations and government delegations who are no longer asking whether Ukraine is capable of creating technologies. They are asking a different question: “How can we become part of this ecosystem?”
The World’s Attitude Towards Ukraine Has Changed
This is probably one of the most important changes that has taken place in recent years.
Over the past five days in Paris, I held dozens of meetings with investors, manufacturers, government officials and defence companies from Europe, the United States and the Middle East.
The main change I saw was this: it is not Ukraine’s attitude towards the world that has changed. It is the world’s attitude towards Ukraine that has changed.
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