Two German DefenceTech companies used Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s visit to Kyiv this weekend to deepen their links with Ukraine, in a sign of how the country is becoming an increasingly important development and manufacturing base for Europe’s next generation of autonomous defence systems.
As announced on Sunday, Munich-based drone company Quantum Systems is set to have several tens of thousands of interceptor drones financed by Germany under its winter 2026/2027 military assistance package, with the systems to be manufactured in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Munich-based ARX Robotics and Ukrainian DefenceTech company Roboneers have expanded their existing relationship into a strategic partnership covering the integration and joint development of unmanned ground systems.
The agreements formed part of a broader push during Merz’s 4 October visit to increase German-Ukrainian cooperation in defence technology and production. Germany also announced around €1 billion in additional military assistance during the visit.
Andreas Flodström, co-founder and chairman of Ukraine-fcoused DefenceTech fund Varangians, shared his thoughts: “This aligns closely with how I think Europe should approach defence innovation: mobilising European production capacity while working much more closely with Ukraine on R&D.
“Ukraine has made an extraordinary leap in defence innovation for modern warfare. But to win the war, we also need to mobilise Europe’s industrial and R&D capacity. Structurally, this is an important step, and I hope we will see much more of it.”
Capital moves into defence
The two agreements also come against a substantial increase in capital flowing into German defence technology.
EU-Startups’ 2026 coverage includes more than €1.2 billion in disclosed funding across Quantum Systems and a group of European companies working in adjacent areas such as autonomous systems, drone operations, aerial intelligence, precision guidance and counter-drone technology.
Germany accounts for most of that total: Quantum Systems raised a €1 billion Series D in July, following a separate €150 million financing package in February, while Hannover-based INLEAP Photonics secured €20 million for laser-based drone defence and Berlin-based SPREAD AI raised €25 million to expand engineering software used across defence, aerospace and heavy industry.
EU-Startups has also followed both companies in the current agreements over several years: Quantum Systems previously raised €160 million and a further €180 million in 2025, while ARX Robotics’ funding history includes a €1.15 million pre-Seed round in 2023, a €9 million Seed round in 2024 and a Series A that reached €42 million in 2025.
The figures point to a German DefenceTech ecosystem in which autonomous platforms and the software, sensing and counter-drone technologies around them are attracting increasingly large pools of private capital.
Production shifts closer to the frontline
Founded in 2015, Quantum Systems develops autonomous aerial systems and accompanying software. Its Ukrainian footprint predates the latest order. Quantum Systems opened a production facility in Ukraine in April 2024, later expanding local manufacturing capacity and its Ukrainian workforce. By February 2025, the company said the site employed 80 people and was preparing to increase that number to 120 while producing locally manufactured Vector reconnaissance drones.
The newly announced interceptor programme pushes that localisation considerably further. The drones were developed by Quantum WIY Industries, part of Quantum Systems’ German-Ukrainian network, and are intended to counter increasingly capable Russian attack drones.
Sven Kruck, Co-CEO of Quantum Systems, said: “Ukraine needs interceptor drones at industrial scale. By expanding production in Ukraine, we can respond faster to the immediate threat while building an industrial capability that will also strengthen Germany and its allies.”
A similar development is taking place on the ground. Founded in Munich in 2022 by former Bundeswehr officers Marc Wietfeld, Maximilian Wied and Stefan Roebel, ARX Robotics develops unmanned ground vehicles and Mithra OS, its software platform for connecting and autonomising military vehicles.
Its partnership with Roboneers is also moving beyond supplying equipment into shared production and development.
In June, the two companies created ARX Industries, a joint venture designed to manufacture the Rys Pro unmanned ground vehicle in Ukraine and Germany. ARX said at the time that the venture aimed to produce several thousand systems in its first year before scaling towards tens of thousands annually.
The new agreement signed in Kyiv extends the relationship into deeper technical integration and joint development.
Marc Wietfeld, CEO ARX Robotics said: “Software-defined unmanned defence solutions are key for landforces on a modern battlefield where every action can be seen by the enemy. Together with Roboneers we provide the Ukrainian forces with a robust but smart UGV fleet at scale and at the same time ensure that the lessons learnt from the battlefield are incorporated into the landsystems development of other western armies.”
A wider innovation pipeline
These partnerships sit within a wider infrastructure being built around Ukrainian defence innovation.
In May, Germany and Ukraine launched Brave Germany, a programme run with Ukraine’s Brave1 defence innovation cluster to provide grants to German and Ukrainian startups working across unmanned systems, AI, communications, laser and missile technologies.
Brave1 said in September that it had awarded more than 1,000 grants since 2023, worth a combined €122 million (UAH 6.2 billion), including support for areas such as interceptor drones and ground robotics.
During his Kyiv visit, Merz explicitly described the relationship as one in which German defence companies learn from Ukraine’s wartime experience while German and Ukrainian businesses establish joint ventures and manufacturing capacity. “German and Ukrainian companies are jointly developing technologies that benefit both countries. That makes us safer and stronger,” he said.
From battlefield to European market
For startups, Ukraine is consequently becoming more than an end market for European defence technology. It is emerging as a place where systems can be developed, manufactured, deployed and iterated in unusually short cycles.
The Quantum Systems and ARX Robotics announcements show what that model can look like at industrial scale: European investment and manufacturing capacity paired with Ukrainian engineering and battlefield experience, with technologies developed for an immediate defence requirement feeding back into the wider European market.