Ukraine's President approves tax exemption for fiber optic drone imports
Photo: Fiber optics for drones have been exempted from taxes (Vitaliy Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed two laws on tax and customs benefits for manufacturers of fiber optic cable-controlled drones.
Draft Law No. 13305 amends the Customs Code of Ukraine and exempts from taxation goods for security and defense purposes, including optical fibers and fiber optic harnesses, other fiber optic cables, other optical, navigation, and topographic devices and instruments used for defense purposes.
Draft law No. 13306 exempts imported fiber optics from value-added tax.
Project justification
According to the authors of the project, in times of war, developers and manufacturers are increasingly developing and producing drones that use optical cables to control and transmit video signals. They are resistant to enemy electronic intelligence and electronic warfare.
One of the elements required for the production of drones and other defense products is optical fibers and fiber optic harnesses, and other fiber optic cables, which are mostly imported to Ukraine.
Fiber optic drones
Fiber optic drones are FPV drones that are controlled via a fiber optic cable. The video signal is also transmitted via this optical cable. Thus, no radio frequencies are used to control the fiber optic drone, and it does not respond to electronic warfare.
This year, Ukraine tested fiber-optic FPV drones with a range of more than 20 km for the first time.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the Ukrainian defense industry can produce 10 million different drones a year.
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine could increase drone production by 40%, but lacks the funds.
