Drones: Who is making the new weapons of war?

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From Ukraine and Russia to Gaza and Sudan, drones have become a key weapon of war. Which companies are making them, and profiting from this rapidly expanding but controversial sector within the defence industry?

We hear from a woman in Ukraine who used to own a flower shop in Kyiv, but who is now making drones to send to the front-line; and we hear from a Russian who left his homeland as a teenager and now, from Australia, is developing the technology that helps protect Ukraine from Russian attack.

And a former Norwegian paratrooper tells us how he can help protect soldiers from drones.

Produced/presenter: Gideon Long

(Photo: Participants in the 'Wild Drones' tournament, organised by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the city of Kamianets, Ukraine, 5 October, 2025. Credit: Maria Senovilla/EPA/Shutterstock)

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts.
0:07.0	Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service.
0:11.6	I'm Gideon Long.
0:12.7	And today I'm looking at one of the fastest growing industries in the world,
0:16.4	the manufacture of drones for military use.
0:19.8	There's definitely been a surge since Russia invaded Ukraine
0:23.6	in 2022. This has been the first full-blown drone war. They've become the go-to weapon for the
0:30.3	Ukrainians. In this program, you'll hear from a Ukrainian woman who used to own a flower shop in
0:35.8	Kiev, but he's now making drones to send to the front line.
0:39.4	Our military needs drones, and that's why we decided to produce them to support in any way we can.
0:46.4	You'll also hear from a Russian who left his homeland as a teenager, and now from Australia
0:51.6	is developing the technology that helps protect Ukraine from Russian attack.
0:56.7	And I speak to a former Norwegian paratrooper who reckons he can help save soldiers' lives.
1:02.9	We're building a system that every soldier can use to defend themselves.
1:07.4	A small system that you can have a couple of in your vest to shoot down the drone when it's
1:11.7	coming in.
1:12.3	Drones and counter drones here on Business Daily from the BBC World Service.
1:21.2	In a clearing in a forest in Ukraine, a soldier sends a drone high into the air.
1:31.0	It's a small device, maybe 30 centimetres across, with rotor blades on each corner.
1:36.5	A standard commercial drone, the kind of thing you might use to take aerial footage at your wedding.
1:42.5	But strap a bomb to it and it becomes a deadly weapon.
1:46.0	The Russians and Ukrainians have used them to devastating effect.
	...

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