MQ-9 Drones Offered to Ukraine for $1, But Kyiv to Spend $10 Million on Shipping: WSJ

Ukraine will be buying a pair of MQ-9 drones from General Atomics for $1, but will reportedly have to shell out $10 million for shipping.

The U.S. drone maker first announced its readiness to transfer reconnaissance and attack drones to Ukraine back in April 2022. An offer letter by the company presented to the Ukrainian Embassy representatives was accessed by the Wall Street Journal.

Aside of initial shipping costs, Ukraine will also have to spend $8 million annually on maintenance.

The proposal would include a ground control station to operate the drones.

A General Atomics representative said he believed that “Ukraine needs opportunities like Reaper, and in the near future.”

Neither the White House nor the Ukrainian government has yet commented on this information.

The U.S. reportedly refused to transfer Gray Eagle drones to Ukraine in November. However, attempts to implement the transfer did not stop – a group of senators from the Democratic and Republican parties appealed to the Biden administration with a request to reconsider the decision on the MQ-1C Gray Eagle drone transfer to Ukraine.