During his official visit to the United Kingdom, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky introduced the new interceptor drone OCTOPUS, created through a partnership of Ukrainian and British engineers.

According to the President's Office, the UK will commence the production of these drones for testing in Ukraine. If the trials are successful, plans are in place to scale up production both in the UK and at Ukrainian facilities. Bloomberg reports that the UK aims to produce around 2000 OCTOPUS units monthly for delivery to Ukraine.

The OCTOPUS interceptor drone is the outcome of a collaborative defense project developed by Ukrainian engineers, notably from Ukrspecsystems, with strong support from British scientists and technical experts. Its main purpose is to combat enemy strike drones, particularly the Russian Shahed-136.

A key advantage of the OCTOPUS is its cost-effectiveness: estimates suggest its price is less than 10% of the cost of the targets it can destroy, making it a viable alternative to expensive surface-to-air missiles.

The UK Ministry of Defence is also considering the OCTOPUS as a future foundation for a European "drone wall" – a permanent air defense system along NATO's eastern border to counter Russian drones.

The OCTOPUS project marks the first joint defense initiative under a new agreement between Ukraine and the UK on military technology exchange. Future plans include the joint production of glide bombs.