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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The Ukrainian defense company "General Chereshnya" has encountered serious problems finalizing the contracts it won to supply 31 thousand fiber-optic drones to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The stumbling block was the procedure of so-called competitive procurements, which simply lacks proper regulatory framework.
As Dilo writes, this is stated in the company's press release.
More than 30 thousand fiber-optic UAVs "on pause"
"General Chereshnya" emphasizes that the situation concerns not only one specific company — according to the manufacturer’s estimates, as a result, deliveries to the front of 677 thousand drones from various Ukrainian manufacturers (radio- and fiber-optic communications) have been halted.
The company claims that the entire procurement procedure carried out by the Defense Procurement Agency (DPA of the Ministry of Defense) together with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine "does not have proper regulatory governance." It is reported that Ukraine still lacks a document that would clearly define how such a procurement should take place, how to conclude contracts, and how to subsequently deliver the manufactured products.
According to the manufacturer, in their case it concerns four won lots to supply fiber-optic unmanned aerial vehicles in the amount of 31 thousand units. Due to the uncertainty about the procedure, the company has no idea about delivery timelines.
The company stresses that these drones should already be operating at the front. At the same time, "General Chereshnya" categorically disagrees that the procedures carried out can be considered full tenders, since a simple survey of a limited circle of suppliers via email — without public announcement, electronic auction, or transparent determination of winners — in no way qualifies as an open and fair procurement.
"All further actions regarding this 'tender' are the fruit of a poisoned tree," the company emphasized.
Completely cancel the current procedure
"General Chereshnya" proposes to introduce a transparent procurement mechanism that would be accessible to every market participant. The company also said it intends to defend its position to the end.
Lawsuits have already been filed, as well as appeals to a number of bodies, including the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).
At the same time, the manufacturer is consulting with international partners — in particular, with representatives of the European Commission.
According to "General Chereshnya", signals about an inspection of this procurement procedure have already come to them from anti-corruption bodies. The company did not specify what actions by the agencies are meant — or whether any concrete decisions have already been made following these inspections.
DPA's position
In a comment to Dilo, the DPA reported that the manufacturer who publicly challenges this procurement format was declared the winner for several lots and on 19 October 2026 submitted documents to sign the contracts.
"We additionally note that in September the court denied five cases filed by this manufacturer against the DPA and confirmed the legitimacy of the applied procurement procedure. The court also did not find discriminatory technical requirements or the provision of advantages to a particular participant. The procurement of strike UAVs with fiber-optic communication channels is carried out under a special procedure provided for by clause 43 of CMU Resolution No. 1275. Its application was agreed with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine as the state customer. Such a procedure is provided for by law for certain defense procurements and allows sensitive information about nomenclature, volumes and technical characteristics of products not to be disclosed, as well as minimizes security risks," the DPA stated.
They added that the special procedure does not mean procurement without competition. The DPA ensured the involvement of the widest possible circle of potential suppliers in the procedure. Requests for commercial proposals were sent to about 2,5 thousand verified manufacturers from the DPA database, and information about the procurement was also published on the DPA website.
Winners by lots are currently being determined and contracts concluded. This concerns the purchase of hundreds of thousands of FPV drones.
"Given that the legality of the procedure has been confirmed by court decisions, its cancellation and re-running do not have proper legal grounds and may lead to delays in supplying drones to the military," the DPA emphasized.
What is known about "General Chereshnya"
"General Chereshnya" transformed from a volunteer project into one of the large Ukrainian manufacturers of unmanned systems. FPV drone production under this brand was launched by Yaroslav and Stanislav Hryshyn and Rudolf Akopyan together with their team in the fall of 2023, according to the company.
The brand is linked to LLC "Center for Unmanned Systems Research." The company’s owner is Yaroslav Hryshyn. The authorized capital is 53,42 million UAH, and in 2024 the company reported 657,96 million UAH in revenue and 224,36 million UAH in net profit. These figures relate to the company’s overall activity and do not separately show income from specific FPV drone models.
In 2024 the company moved to serial production, and in 2025–2026 it significantly expanded its product line. It currently produces classic FPV, fiber-optic drones, interceptor drones, fixed-wing unmanned systems and ground stations.
Production capacities allow the release of more than 100 thousand unmanned vehicles per month, and the products are used by over 200 units of the Security and Defense Forces, the company says.
"General Chereshnya" was also among the manufacturers integrated into the state DOT-Chain Defence system, through which military units can order the drones they need. The process of receiving drones through the new system was reduced from about half a year to ten days, Dilo was told by General Chereshnya’s HR director Andriy Lavrynovych.
At the same time, the company is actively expanding its international presence. In 2026 the company advanced to the second round of the U.S. Drone Dominance Program run by the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit. The program involves testing and selecting drones for the U.S. military.
The manufacturer also agreed to form a joint venture with U.S. Wilcox Industries.
In Europe, "General Chereshnya" agreed with Croatian Orqa to build an underground factory in Ukraine and jointly produce components in Croatia.
At the end of August the company also agreed with Finnish Patria on the joint development and production of drones in Finland. In the first stage products are to be supplied to Ukraine, and later they are planned to be offered to European customers.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item ""Генерал Черешня" заявляє про блокування поставок дронів для ЗСУ: що сталося". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Delo.ua.
