'Opening up air defense market' — Defense Minister Fedorov reports 1st drone shootdown by 'private sector' air defense units

A private company's air defense unit shot down several Russian Shahed and Zala drones in Kharkiv Oblast, demonstrating the "first results" of an experimental Defense Ministry project, Mykhailo Fedorov announced on March 30.

Ukraine launched the program in November 2025 to involve private-sector partners in building air defense units integrated into the Air Force's unified command-and-control system. Yet no confirmed interceptions by such units had been reported since then.

"Private air defense is already working," Defense Minister Fedorov wrote. "One of the participant companies of the project already created its own air defense group."

The Defense Ministry has granted 13 other entities authorized business status to form similar air defense groups, according to Fedorov's statement.

"At present, all units are at different stages of training: some are already carrying out combat missions, others are undergoing training, and the rest are completing it and will soon bolster the country's air defenses," the minister said.

Fedorov, who served as digital transformation minister until January, has a long track record of promoting the privatization and decentralization of Ukraine's defenses.

Brave1, which has funded and coordinated Ukrainian defense tech startups since 2023, was largely his brainchild. Fedorov also spearheaded Ukraine's earliest major investments in domestic drones following Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

"We are opening up the air defense market and creating competition: businesses and companies can develop private air defense and defend their own infrastructure," Fedorov said.

"Private groups receive weapons, act under the coordination of the air defenses and become part of the general air defense architecture."

At the same time, there is little public information on how private air defense units function and are funded, particularly in their early phases.

Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko in early March said that the Cabinet of Ministers had updated the terms of the experimental project to strengthen protections for critical infrastructure, authorizing the government to supply additional weapons to enhance air defenses.

Under the updated program, the Air Force Command can temporarily transfer air defense equipment and ammunition not in use by combat units to these enterprises on a case-by-case basis.

Svyrydenko added that all such decisions are made under military oversight and within the framework of the Armed Forces' unified air defense system.

The Kyiv Independent contacted the Defense Ministry for clarification on the framework for establishing and developing private-sector air defense units but had not received a response at the time of publication.