Swarmer has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ratel Robotics, a major Ukrainian manufacturer of unmanned ground vehicles, in a transaction valued at up to $224 million in cash and stock based on earnout milestones. The acquisition, representing Swarmer’s first major transaction under board chairman Erik Prince, will bring Ratel’s workforce of more than 300 employees into the company, increasing total headcount to nearly 500.
Ratel Robotics has secured $86 million in contracts this year and accounts for approximately 37% of the total 11 billion UAH ($246.85 million) spent by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense Procurement Agency on UGV contracts between January and April 2026. The company’s modular UGV portfolio supports battlefield logistics, casualty evacuations, reconnaissance, demining, and drone launching operations, while the firm also develops unmanned aerial vehicle variants, mobile workshops, and solar-powered trailers, as stated in a press release by Swarmer.
“We believe that UGVs can act as a universal launch-platform for UAVs, interceptors and other unmanned autonomous assets,” said Alex Fink, President and U.S. CEO of Swarmer. “Combining a battle-tested launch platform with our combat-proven autonomy software is the key to creating versatile, interoperable solutions.”
Following the transaction, founder Taras Ostapchuk will continue to lead Ratel Robotics and report directly to Fink. Ostapchuk noted that combining ground and aerial capabilities with increasing levels of autonomy represents the next evolution in modern warfare to reduce human risk on the battlefield. Swarmer plans to integrate Ratel’s hardware systems with its vendor-agnostic autonomy software, which has supported over 100,000 combat missions in Ukraine since April 2024.
