Finnish Patria and Ukrainian drone maker General Cherry agree on drone production in Finland

Finnish defense company Patria and Ukrainian drone manufacturer General Cherry have signed a letter of intent to launch drone production in Finland.

The agreement was announced during Finnish President Alexander Stubb’s visit to Kyiv and formed part of a broad package of defense cooperation deals.

The agreement combines General Cherry’s combat drone portfolio with Patria’s production capabilities and expertise in defense technologies. General Cherry, officially known as Center of Unmanned Technologies LLC, specializes in strike FPV drones, fiber-optic-guided drones, aerial target interceptor drones, and fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.

“Unmanned defense systems are at the heart of the future of defense, which is why we have been investing in the development of unmanned systems as part of our operations for many years,” said Mikko Leino, Executive Vice President of Patria’s Defense and Weapon Systems business unit.

General Cherry co-founder Stanislav Grishin noted that the partnership could “contribute to a fundamental transformation of European and global security architecture.” The planned production in Finland will target Western European defense customers and will complement a growing network of Ukrainian drone manufacturing partnerships across Europe.

The agreement between Patria and General Cherry is one of several deals announced during Stubb’s visit. Volodymyr Zelensky said that companies from both countries had signed agreements covering the production of drones, unmanned maritime systems, and ground robotic systems in Finland.

“Our companies have signed agreements on the development and production of drones in Finland for the needs of Ukraine and Europe,” Zelensky said.

A few days before the announcement of the deal with Patria, another Ukrainian company — Airlogix — signed a separate letter of intent with Finnish company Innokas to establish a joint drone production facility in Finland.

The Finnish-Ukrainian agreements fit into Kyiv’s broader diplomatic efforts in the field of drone technology. Ukraine has concluded drone cooperation agreements with at least nine countries, including Denmark, Estonia, and the Netherlands, at the NATO summit in Ankara in July. In early August, Zelensky said that another 15 agreements were in the negotiation stage.

Patria is owned by the Finnish state (50.1%) and a Norwegian defense technology and aerospace company (49.9%). The company has been involved in Ukraine’s defense research and development ecosystem for several years and builds unmanned systems within an architecture that integrates sensors, communications, data, and artificial intelligence.