UFORCE

UFORCE is a Ukrainian-founded defence technology company that develops and integrates combat-proven unmanned systems across the sea, air, and land domains. The company was co-founded by Oleg Rogynskyy and Oleksiy Honcharuk, while former UK Defence Secretary Sir Ben Wallace joined its board at inception.

In March 2026, UFORCE raised $50 million at a valuation exceeding $1 billion, becoming Ukraine's first defence technology unicorn. Its portfolio includes the Magura uncrewed surface vessel, the Nemesis strike UAV, the Lyut ground combat system, and the SICH/C2 command-and-control platform.

History

Ukraine as a proving ground

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, created conditions for the rapid development and iteration of autonomous military systems. Ukrainian engineers developed, deployed, and adapted platforms across sea, air, and land domains under active combat conditions.

Background

Oleg Rogynskyy previously founded People.ai, an enterprise AI company that reached a valuation of $1.1 billion. Following the invasion, he established Freedom Fund, a defence-technology investment vehicle focused on autonomous weapons systems.

Oleksiy Honcharuk served as Prime Minister of Ukraine from August 2019 to March 2020. After leaving government, he joined Stanford University as a visiting scholar, and later returned to Ukraine after the start of the full-scale invasion. He subsequently served as adviser to the Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces and as chair of the supervisory board of Aerorozvidka.

Formation

Rogynskyy and Honcharuk first met in San Francisco in 2020. Their cooperation in the field of Ukrainian defence technology led to the formation of UFORCE, structured around the teams behind the Magura and Nemesis platforms. Sir Ben Wallace was invited to join the board.

Incorporation and launch

UFORCE Global Limited was incorporated in England and Wales on 9 January 2025. The company publicly launched on 5 March 2026, when Bloomberg first reported its funding round. The launch received international coverage, including in Bloomberg, Forbes, The New York Times, CNBC, The Atlantic, and Handelsblatt.

Key people

Oleg Rogynskyy

Rogynskyy is a Ukrainian-born entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley. Before UFORCE, he founded People.ai, which raised more than $200 million and reached a valuation of $1.1 billion.

Oleksiy Honcharuk

Honcharuk served as Prime Minister of Ukraine from August 2019 to March 2020. He later worked with Ukrainian defence and unmanned-systems initiatives and became board chairman of UFORCE.

Ben Wallace

Sir Ben Wallace served as the UK's Secretary of State for Defence from 2019 to 2023 and joined UFORCE's board at the time of the company's launch.

Products and platforms

UFORCE describes itself as a prime integrator of autonomous combat systems, unifying combat-tested platforms under an open-architecture command layer compatible with NATO standards.

Sea domain

• Magura — a family of uncrewed surface vessels (USVs).
• Mykola-3 — a USV described by the company as the first with confirmed successful strikes against enemy warships.

Air domain

• Nemesis — a series of medium and heavy strike multirotor platforms.
• R18 — described by the company as the first Ukrainian bomber drone.
• R34 and R36 — successor platforms to the R18.

Land domain

• Lyut 2 (Fury) — a ground combat robotic platform.
• D21 — an unmanned ground transport platform.
• D12 and D14 — remotely operated robotic turrets.
• Khyzhak (Predator) — an autonomous gyrostabilised weapons system.

Counter-UAS

• Sunray — a laser counter-UAS system.

Command and control

• SICH/C2 — a multi-domain C2 and autonomy platform.

In March 2026, UFORCE also introduced Bucha, a middle-strike-class kamikaze drone with a range of up to 200 km.

Strategy

Economics of deterrence

According to the company, autonomous systems can impose disproportionately high costs on adversaries at a fraction of the cost of traditional defence systems.

Non-ITAR positioning

UFORCE has described its UK incorporation as allowing the company to operate outside the scope of US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), within the framework of the UK–Ukraine 100-year Partnership Agreement.

See also

• Anduril Industries
• Helsing
• Aerorozvidka
• People.ai
• Drone warfare in the Russo-Ukrainian War