Who is exporting the most military drones?
In 2022–2025, the US and Iran ranked first and second, exporting 7,593 and 6,800 military drones, respectively. Although Turkey ranked fifth in terms of the number of delivered aircraft, it outperformed all its competitors in terms of the number of buyer countries.
Who is exporting the most military drones?
The analysis covers 14 countries that supplied such devices abroad between 2022 and 2025.
The US and Iran lead the ranking by a wide margin. Each of them exported more than six times as many drones as third-placed Germany. While this figure stands at 1,000 for Germany, it is 690 for fourth-placed Poland.
One-way attack drones and loitering munitions that detonate upon hitting a target accounted for 97 percent of the total deliveries taken into account. For this reason, supplies within certain armed conflicts can amount to thousands of devices.
The numbers at the bottom of the ranking are much smaller. The last seven countries — from the Czech Republic to Sweden — exported a total of 89 devices.
Turkey, on the other hand, stands out for its number of buyers. The country supplied military drones to 28 nations over four years. This represents more than half of the 54 countries that imported such devices during the period covered by the ranking.
For comparison, the US and China each supplied drones to 10 countries. This means Turkey's number of buyers is nearly three times higher than each of theirs.
Twelve of the countries that received Turkish drones are located in Africa. Other buyers include NATO members Poland and Romania, as well as Pakistan, Kuwait, and Ukraine.
When interpreting the ranking, its scope must be taken into account. In the aviation category, SIPRI counts drones with a payload weight of at least 150 kilograms. One-way attack drones and loitering munitions, however, are classified under the missiles category in the institute's database.
The statistics do not consist solely of sold devices: drones provided as military aid and those manufactured under license in the buyer country are also taken into account. Small FPV drones and commercial devices are mostly not covered.
Therefore, this ranking reflects the number of devices in the specified categories, rather than the countries' export of all types of drones or their revenue from exports.