Unmanned systems producer SYOS Aerospace has been awarded a £30 million ($40 million) contract by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to supply a package of equipment to Ukraine.
Announced on 21 April, the order to support Kyiv’s armed forces – via the supply of unspecified “drones” – came alongside an agreement between the UK and New Zealand to expand military cooperation.
Headquartered in New Zealand, SYOS established a production facility in Fareham, Hampshire in May 2024, and currently has about 100 employees in total. According to the MoD, its new order will support the creation of another 45 jobs.
“We are rapidly growing our production capacity in the UK, and will be opening new sites,” SYOS chief executive Sam Vye tells FlightGlobal. The company also is exploring the possibility of establishing a similar manufacturing capability in the USA, he adds, while noting: “We are pretty aggressive in our growth strategy, including M&A [mergers and acquisitions].”
Vye says SYOS’s production of uncrewed air vehicles (UAVs) including SA7 quadcopter drones currently tops 1,000 units per month. Its current portfolio also includes unmanned ground vehicles and maritime unmanned surface vehicles.
The company cannot at this time disclose the equipment domain covered by the new order for Ukraine.
Vye notes that five of its products “are tried and tested in contested environments”, with its European customer base already having included the UK MoD.
UAVs produced by SYOS are equipped with its proprietary MuV-NaP navigation technology, which enables operations in GNSS-denied conditions. Employing the use of infrared sensors, this “provides highly accurate, drift-free real-time positioning”, it says.
A multinational Drone Capability Coalition led by Latvia and the UK early this year pledged to deliver 30,000 new uncrewed surveillance and attack UAVs to Ukraine to assist with its defence against Russian invasion.
