An analysis has been raised that the United States is seeking to secure intellectual property rights related to Ukraine's drone technology. It is assessed as focusing on obtaining core battlefield-proven technology and production know-how rather than expanding official defence industry cooperation.

According to the IT outlet TechRadar on July 30 local time, experts analysed that the United States is seeking direct access to core technologies in Ukraine's drone ecosystem and that the move is similar to how China previously secured Boeing's aerospace technology through joint manufacturing contracts.

The United States is focusing not on the airframes themselves but on software and battlefield operational technology. Ukraine's drone ecosystem is highly regarded for software integration capabilities, survivability in an electronic warfare environment and the speed of rapid technological improvement, as well as hardware. Its competitiveness is seen in having advanced its technology in combat while responding to Russia's strong radio jamming.

In particular, the Pentagon is reported to be showing interest in AI-based terminal guidance technology that allows drones to identify and strike targets on their own after communications with operators are cut off. Navigation technology that can reliably carry out missions even when GPS signals are blocked is also cited as a core target for acquisition.

Experts say that if the United States secures the intellectual property rights to such technologies, it would lay the groundwork to improve or copy systems and mass-produce them without Ukraine's continued approval or technical support. They analysed this as a strategy to secure core technology and industrial competitiveness without expanding the scope of wartime cooperation.

U.S. interest is also turning to production methods, not just technology. While the U.S. defence industry has operated around a small number of high-cost precision weapons, Ukraine has built a distributed manufacturing system capable of producing hundreds of thousands of low-cost FPV drones and long-range attack drones annually.

As the recent conflict has shown that deploying large numbers of inexpensive drones can effectively counter high-cost weapons systems, assessments say the United States is also reviewing the limits of its existing procurement methods.

Still, there is also a view that securing technology does not mean production capabilities will be transferred immediately. Experts forecast that U.S. manufacturers are likely, for the time being, to rely on Ukraine's production facilities and wartime manufacturing experience. They cite that the production speed and supply-chain operating experience accumulated during the war are at a level that the U.S. defence procurement system would find hard to match in the short term.

Ukraine is also expanding technology cooperation. It is running a multiyear drone cooperation programme involving about 20 countries and had signed 6 agreements as of June 9. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (볼로디미르 젤렌스키) has said that at least 10 cooperation efforts would be pursued, including weapons exports, joint production and development of new technology.

Cooperation between the two countries has already expanded to the operational level. Ukraine in March dispatched interceptor drones and a team of experts to support defence of a U.S. military base in Jordan, and the Pentagon in May announced it would send U.S. personnel to Ukraine to study combat drone operating systems.

Ukrainian drones have also delivered results in combat. Drone attacks targeting Russian oil infrastructure are reported to have dealt a significant blow to Russia's oil export capacity, putting renewed focus on the strategic value of low-cost, mass-produced drones.

One analyst assessed that "Washington's interest is no longer whether Ukraine's drone technology is important to U.S. national security, but how much control it can secure over that technology."