Drone manufacturer ‘General Cherry’ has said it is unable to sign four contracts under lots for the procurement of fibre-optic drones because of a competitive procurement procedure carried out by the State Rear Operator (DOT), the Defence Procurement Agency (AOZ) and Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence. This was stated in a company post.
According to the manufacturer, the situation means the company cannot deliver 31,000 fibre-optic drones on time. ‘General Cherry’ also claims that, overall, this procedure has blocked the supply of 677,000 drones with radio control and fibre-optic communications.
The company says the procedure lacks an adequate regulatory and legal basis.
“This procedure cannot be considered ‘tenders by technical and tactical characteristics’ or, indeed, a ‘tender’ in any form. You cannot call an email survey among a limited circle of manufacturers a ‘tender’ — without a public announcement, an electronic auction and a transparent determination of the winner,” the post says.
‘General Cherry’ said it is challenging the procedure in court.
“We are taking a comprehensive approach to defending our position: lawsuits, complaints and ongoing consultations with international partners, including representatives of the European Commission. There have already been responses from anti-corruption institutions pointing to real risks in this ‘procedure’,” the company said.
The manufacturer is calling for the current format of competitive procurement to be cancelled and replaced with an open procedure accessible to all market participants.
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What AOZ Says
The Defence Procurement Agency says that ‘General Cherry’ was selected as the winner for several lots and, on 19 October 2026, submitted documents for the conclusion of contracts.
The organisation added that in September the court refused to uphold five cases brought by the same manufacturer against AOZ and confirmed the lawfulness of the procurement procedure used. The court also found no discrimination in the technical requirements or any preferential treatment for a particular participant.
AOZ said the procurement of strike UAVs with a fibre-optic communications channel is carried out under a special procedure предусмотреним пунктом 43 постанови КМУ № 1275. Its use has been agreed with Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence as the state customer. Such a procedure is предусмотрений by law for certain defence procurements and allows sensitive information about the range, volumes and technical characteristics of the products not to be disclosed, as well as minimising security risks, AOZ explained.
“At the same time, the special procedure does not mean procurement without competition. AOZ ensured the involvement of the widest possible range of potential suppliers. Requests for commercial offers were sent to around 2,500 verified manufacturers from AOZ’s database, and information about the procurement was also published on the AOZ website,” the organisation said.
AOZ added that the process of determining winners by lots and signing contracts is currently ongoing. This concerns the procurement of hundreds of thousands of FPV drones. Given that the legality of the procedure has been confirmed by court decisions, cancelling it and running it again has no proper legal grounds and could lead to delays in supplying drones to the military.