Orqa and Ukrainian Partner to Develop Interceptor Drones for NATO

Osijek’s Orqa and the Ukrainian defense technology company General Cherry have signed an agreement for strategic cooperation in the development and production of unmanned aerial systems, focusing on so-called interceptor drones, components, and other systems intended for defense against modern aerial threats.

– This partnership is based on an innovative joint production model that allows us to combine the proven operational knowledge and experience of General Cherry with our technology, thus offering effective air defense capabilities against modern unmanned threats for the first time outside Ukraine. This is an important step in putting high-performance systems at the service of the security of all our allies, said Srđan Kovačević, co-founder and CEO of Orqa.

According to a statement from both companies, the collaboration combines Orqa’s manufacturing capacities and market experience with the operational knowledge of the Ukrainian partner, gained in real combat conditions. There are plans to establish joint production facilities in Croatia and Ukraine, with the first products expected soon.

This will enable NATO allies to procure interceptor drones directly through the European supply chain, without relying on Ukrainian military stocks. For the Osijek company, this is a new step in the defense segment, at a time when it is rapidly expanding production and international presence.

– We are launching a significant and promising partnership with a company that brings over a decade of experience and leading expertise in the unmanned aerial vehicle industry. Our common goal is to help build a new architecture of European and global security with the unique combat experience of Ukraine and the technological expertise of Orqa, stated Yaroslav Gryshyn, co-founder of General Cherry.

It is worth noting that the new partnership between the two defense technology companies comes about a month after Orqa secured €12.7 million in a Series A funding round for expanding its global manufacturing network and international expansion. This round included participants such as Expeditions, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Taiwania Capital, Aymo, and Radius Capital, and the company stated that its goal is to further increase production and supply capacities.

This builds on Orqa’s distributed manufacturing program presented at the end of 2025, when the company announced that its production capacity in Osijek reaches about 280,000 drones annually, with plans to expand to over one million units annually through a network of partners. In December of last year, Kovačević also mentioned that the company is open to joint ventures in other markets, and it is clear that they were serious about this.

In the meantime, Orqa has further expanded its defense partnership network. In March of this year, it signed an agreement with the American Red River Army Depot in Texas to support the production of small unmanned systems for the needs of the U.S. military, while at the beginning of 2025, it entered into a collaboration with DOK-ING on the development of technologies connecting unmanned aerial vehicles and ground systems. As early as the end of 2024, Orqa formed a partnership with the Turkish Baykar to develop new technical capabilities.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian partner is also entering this business with recent business expansion. Specifically, General Cherry announced a partnership with the American company Wilcox Industries for the production of FPV and interceptor drones in the U.S. at the end of March this year, and at the beginning of the year, it publicly presented the interceptor drone Bullet for the first time at the UMEX 2026 fair, intended for intercepting Shahed-type unmanned aerial vehicles.