Blackwater founder seeks to acquire Ukrainian drone companies: report
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Erik Prince, founder of the notorious US military company Blackwater, is reportedly seeking to purchase drone manufacturing firms in Ukraine, a move that has raised concerns over control of strategic wartime technology.
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Blackwater founder Erik Prince speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in Oxon Hill, M. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Erik Prince, the controversial founder of the US private military company Blackwater, is reportedly seeking to acquire drone manufacturing firms in Ukraine, according to a report by The Guardian citing sources familiar with the matter.
“Erik is going out there to buy drone companies," one of the sources told the UK-based daily. "Whether they would sell them […] For the Ukrainians, these companies are now strategic assets."
Prince is reportedly pursuing meetings with key players in Ukraine’s fast-growing drone sector, which has played a central role in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
“I’m not surprised at all,” a former American special forces soldier with experience in Ukraine and knowledge of the various defense companies operating there told The Guardian. “Drones are now an integral part of the PMC [private military contractor] world. If you’re a PMC and you don’t have a drone or possibly an electronic warfare capability, you are antiquated.”
Internal documents cited by the news outlet suggest that the Pentagon is interested in collaborating with US-based drone manufacturers that are active in Ukraine, as part of a broader effort to understand the evolving nature of modern warfare and adapt to new battlefield realities.
Read more: Blackwater founder calls on US to colonize Africa, Latin America
This development comes amid an ongoing shift in military strategy, where unmanned aerial systems have proven decisive in surveillance, targeting, and logistics.
Concerns over strategic control and military influence
With Ukraine's drone production now seen as a strategic asset amid the prolonged conflict with Russia, the possibility of foreign acquisition, especially by figures like Prince, whose name is tied to controversial private military operations, has sparked concern among observers.
Prince, who founded Blackwater (now operating under a different name), has been linked to various military and intelligence efforts in conflict zones, including proposals for privatized security solutions.
The report has yet to confirm whether any Ukrainian firms have agreed to sell, but Prince’s interest underscores a growing intersection between private military ventures, advanced drone warfare, and geopolitical conflicts like the war in Ukraine.
The Guardian's report highlights that the move to Ukraine could signal Prince's eyeing of opportunities outside of pure military endeavors.
His interest in Ukraine follows his time as an adviser for a drone assassination program in Haiti this year and also allegedly sending hundreds of fighters to the Caribbean nation, home to western mining interests, under the banner of his new venture, Vectus Global.
Prince made a similar, albeit unsuccessful, pitch to finance a mercenary force to take over the war in Afghanistan in 2018 by using local mining projects.
“He’s doing it in Haiti, so why not?” Morgan Lerrette, a former Blackwater contractor in Iraq who later became an author and critic of the wider PMC industry, told The Guardian. “From a strategic look, [Prince] is going places where there are minerals and the US wants to create joint sovereign wealth funds. Ukraine fits that."
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