GILCHING, Germany -- Two years ago, Anastasia, a 35-year-old Ukrainian IT worker, fled her hometown of Zaporizhzhya, leaving behind her mother and sister to seek out work in Germany.
Russia’s all-out war on Ukraine had compelled her to leave her job in the southeastern Ukrainian city beset by routine electricity outages, not to mention regular bombardments. The hope of finding well-paid work that also could contribute to the war effort convinced her to leave her relatives and move abroad.
These days, she’s part of a start-up company, housed in a nondescript warehouse on the perimeter of a Munich-area airport, that is churning out drones to supply the Ukrainian military.
A joint venture between a Kyiv company called Frontline Robotics and a German technology firm called Quantum Systems, the project -- the first of its kind -- employs around five dozen people so far: 80 percent of them are Ukrainian; many are refugees from the war.
Most, if not all, work 10- to 12-hour days, six days a week, said Anastasia, who asked only to use her first name, for security purposes. Many are devoted to their work, she said, often forgetting even to break for lunch.
“For me, this is more than just a job,” she said. “We come in even on Saturdays because we have a goal -- to liberate our country. I see how hard people are working. I even have to make them take a lunch break because they can’t tear themselves away from their work.”
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10,000 Drones A Year: RFE/RL Goes Inside The First German-Ukrainian Production Plant
The venture is part of an innovative push to tap Ukraine’s deep expertise in developing and building new drone technologies. It’s a push occurring not just in Germany and Europe, but also now, suddenly, in the Middle East and Gulf region, where countries are racing to secure Ukraine’s know-how to help defend against Iranian drones and missiles.
In Germany, the government-backed effort is called Build With Ukraine, announced in December 2025, with around 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) allocated by the government this year to subsidize Ukrainian defense manufacturing, in Ukraine or in Germany.
This particular effort outside Munich got a bear hug from Berlin in February when German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“To have this sort of production in Germany is a major shift,” said Mykyta Rozhkov, the 35-year-old chief business development officer for Frontline Robotics. “We are in the business of creating robotic mass, to build a shield between Europe and Russia.”
Ukrainian soldiers walk next to a heavy strike drone at a training ground in the Zaporizhzhya region in March.
Moscow has already taken notice.
“And proudly, joyfully, they demonstrate how German drones, manufactured at German factories, will now be killing Russians,” Vladimir Solovyov, a wildly bombastic Russian TV host, said on his state-television talk show shortly after the ceremony. “Drones that will bring death to the civilian population of Russia will not only bear a Ukrainian flag, but a German flag as well!”
'Ukraine Is The Main Driver Of The Whole Drone Industry'
The drone model being assembled at this particular warehouse is called Linza, weighs around 4 kilograms, and can fly up to 15 kilometers. It is not a “kamikaze” drone of the kind being used by Iran, known as Shaheds, or the Russian version modeled on the Shahed, called Geran.
These are “logistical” drones: light-weight quadcopters, bringing small loads to and from Ukraine’s front lines -- bottled water, first-aid kits, mobile phones, batteries, cigarettes, and other items -- guided by a laptop and joystick console packed into a heavy suitcase. Frontline Robotics says the Linza can also serve as a “drone bomber” -- dropping explosives on a target.
Most important, these models employ anti-jamming technology to thwart Russian electronic warfare, the signals aimed at disrupting the drones’ navigation.
“Ukraine, right now, is the main driver of the whole drone industry,” said Matthias Lehna, a former German army major who is the managing director of the joint venture, called Quantum Frontline Industries. “Ukrainian drone technology is the best in the world, and they also show that it's not only about single capabilities…. But you have to also show that you can, at scale, develop effective counter measures.”
Interest in Ukraine’s experience with drone warfare, over more than four years of war since 2022, had already drawn outside interest and investment in and out of Ukraine.
One of the higher-profile investors include former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who announced a partnership last July to provide Ukraine with drones powered by artificial intelligence -- an innovation that theoretically should make the vehicles harder, if not impossible, to jam.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy toured several Gulf nations, including the United Arab Emirates, touting Kyiv's experience in drone warfare.
The Iran war, meanwhile, has put Ukraine’s experience in greater demand. Over the past two weeks, Zelenskyy toured the Gulf and Middle East, signing defense agreements and promoting Kyiv’s prowess. More than 200 Ukrainian air-defense experts have been sent to the Gulf region, he said.
"Ukraine has the greatest experience in the world in countering attack drones," he said on March 10. "We are ready to help those who help us, help Ukraine,” he said.
While the Quantum-Frontline joint venture and the wider Build With Ukraine campaign have the blessing of the government in Berlin, not all German manufacturers are entirely complimentary.
In an interview with The Atlantic magazine, the CEO of Rheinmetall -- a major German builder of tanks and artillery -- dismissed Ukraine’s innovations, likening it to Lego, the plastic building blocks. Armin Papperger also derisively likened drone development to “Ukrainian housewives” using “3-D printers in the kitchen.”
His remarks drew scorn from Ukrainian officials.
Quantum Systems, the German parent of the joint venture, already has multiple assembly lines in Ukraine. The joint venture with Frontline Robotics, meanwhile, occupies a section of a warehouse, with high metal ceilings and walls adorned with Ukrainian and German flags.
During a recent visit, workers hunched over metal tables, welding and assembling parts for the drones, as others used laptops to test cameras and guidance systems. Assembled drones were lined up like planes for takeoff on one side of the main room. Most of the talk overheard was in Ukrainian.
While many of the employees are refugees since the 2022 invasion -- driven from their homes in eastern Ukraine in particular -- others have lived in Germany for some time.
“You can see that they see a purpose in this work,” Lehna said. “They want to do something for their own country, so they have high motivation. They know the purpose behind that, and I don't have to explain much if I have to ask them if they want to work on weekends.”
Since February 2022, Ukraine and Russia have rushed to design and build new types of drones -- revolutionizing warfare, experts say.
'Harsh Reality'
One senior employee is a 40-year-old Ukrainian man originally from Kyiv.
He asked not to use his name because, prior to the war, he was an avid model plane builder and the community of aficionados crossed borders and cultures; some of his former Russian acquaintances have likely been enlisted in Russia to do similar work, he said.
“This is a drone war. People don’t want to go to the front lines; they want to send robots. We are moving toward robotic warfare -- robot defense, robot attacks,” said the man, who has lived in Germany for several years.
“Drones are carrying heavier and heavier payloads, flying farther, with technology improving and control systems getting better,” he said. “This has played a huge role in the war. Both on our side and on [Russia’s] side, there were many people with experience in model aircraft -- they quickly switched to drones.”
The company just started shipping its German-made drones to Ukraine in March -- about a month after receiving an export license from Ukrainian authorities, and about six months since the project was conceived.
Lehna, who said he has traveled to Ukraine more than 15 times since the onset of the invasion, said the project is scaling up to manufacture 10,000 Linza drones annually. It plans to have 200 employees on payroll by the end of 2026.
Most of the employees working at the Munich-area warehouse assembling drones destined for Ukraine are Ukrainians themselves.
Eventually, Lehna said, executives plan to market the drones outside of Ukraine, including supplying the German military. But he said German and European defense industries were evolving and embracing new technologies at a much slower rate than Ukraine was.
“It's not only about procuring tanks right now, it's also about procuring unmanned systems,” he said.
Ukrainian innovation, he said, was driven in large part by the urgency of war, driving start-ups to move faster.
“It's like that every lesson learned is paid by blood, and this is a harsh reality, which is also putting on the pressure to adapt quicker in a way that is, I think, unmatchable,” Lehna said.
“Every mistake you do here is directly having an impact on the battlefield,” he said, “and Ukraine is not in a position to have lots of mistakes.”