Britain Pledges 150,000 Ukrainian-Made Drones and Additional Air-Defence Support by End of 2026

Britain said Wednesday it will provide Ukraine with 150,000 drones by the end of 2026, along with more than 350 air-defense missiles and radar systems, in a new military package the Ministry of Defence said was worth about 750 million pounds.

The announcement, published by the Defence Ministry on June 18, said the package would be funded through the U.K.’s Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration, or ERA, loan to Ukraine. Under that mechanism, agreed by the Group of Seven in 2024, loans to Ukraine are backed by profits from immobilized Russian sovereign assets. The British government has said the U.K.’s share of the ERA loan totals 2.26 billion pounds. Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis announced the package in Brussels while attending a NATO defense ministers meeting and the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, the ministry said.

The package centers on 150,000 Ukrainian-produced drones to be delivered by the end of 2026. The ministry also said Britain will provide more than 350 air-defense missiles and radars over the same period, including Lightweight Multirole Missiles, known as LMMs, and ground-based radar systems. The government presented the package as support both for Ukraine’s immediate military needs and for the country’s domestic defense production.

The drone pledge marks an increase from an earlier British commitment for 2026. On April 15, the Defence Ministry said the U.K. would provide at least 120,000 drones for Ukraine in 2026. Wednesday’s announcement raises that stated 2026 total to 150,000, continuing a steady expansion of British drone support.

The ministry said Jarvis also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Brussels. In the June 18 release, Jarvis said the package of drones, air-defense missiles and radars “will help to protect innocent Ukrainian people from Putin’s barrage of drones and missiles.”

The funding comes from a stream the U.K. has already set aside under the Russian-asset-backed ERA loan, rather than from a newly announced standalone financing program. That makes the announcement notable less for a new funding mechanism than for the scale and composition of what Britain now says it will deliver by the end of next year: a larger 2026 drone commitment paired with additional air-defense missiles and radar systems.

The Defence Ministry’s own release contained a small discrepancy in the stated value of the package. Its headline described the announcement as a “750 million pound package,” while the body of the release said the support was worth 752 million pounds and repeated that higher figure. Britain did not immediately resolve the difference in the text of the announcement, but the ministry was clear that the package will be funded through the U.K.’s 2.26 billion-pound ERA loan to Ukraine.