General Cherry, Orqa strike deal to build Ukrainian interceptor drones for NATO markets
Ukraine’s General Cherry and Croatia’s Orqa have signed a cooperation deal to develop and manufacture interceptor drones and counter-UAS systems for NATO member states.
The agreement, announced on April 7 in Osijek, Croatia, will make General Cherry’s combat-proven interceptor capability available outside Ukraine for the first time. The partners set up a two-track production model. In Ukraine, they plan an underground manufacturing facility focused first on flight stacks and communications systems, with a longer-term push to localize components under the Build in Ukraine program. In Croatia, they will launch serial production by combining Orqa’s industrial base with General Cherry’s battlefield-driven development cycle.
General Cherry, founded in September 2023, says it now produces more than 70,000 drones a month across 33 codified products. The company ranks first among Ukrainian interceptor drone makers under official Army of Drones Bonus program data. It was also the first Ukrainian drone company to secure AQAP 2110 certification, the NATO quality standard required for alliance procurement. Its flagship systems include the Bullet, a fixed-wing VTOL interceptor with a top speed of 309 kph designed to engage Shahed-class attack drones, and the AIR family of counter-UAS platforms. In February 2026, the company said an AIR interceptor destroyed a Russian AI-guided Klin loitering munition in what it described as the first confirmed intercept of an AI-powered kamikaze drone.
Orqa brings an established NATO-facing supply chain. The Croatian company operates in more than 50 markets, including 24 NATO member states. It says it manufactures without Chinese components and runs a vertically integrated production model. In 2026, Financial Times ranked Orqa 135th on its FT1000 list of Europe’s fastest-growing companies and second in aerospace and defense. The Orqa pact complements a separate U.S.-focused partnership General Cherry announced with Wilcox Industries, aimed at Pentagon procurement and the American market. Taken together, the two deals point to a broader strategy to build distributed manufacturing capacity on both sides of the Atlantic without cutting Ukrainian domestic output.
The agreement also fits a wider trend as Ukrainian defense-technology firms move production into NATO countries to scale faster and plug into Western procurement channels. If executed as planned, the partnership could give NATO buyers access to interceptor drones shaped by frontline combat while strengthening Ukraine’s role in Europe’s emerging security and defense industrial base.