WB Group, the Private Polish Firm Behind the Warmate Drone

WB Group is Poland’s largest private defense company and the maker of the Warmate loitering munition, with more than 2,500 employees and roughly $0.4 billion in 2023 revenue according to reference works. Based in Ożarów Mazowiecki near Warsaw, the firm grew from a small electronics house founded in 1997 into a builder of drones, battlefield networks, fire-control software and radios that now supply Poland, Ukraine and export customers.

1997

Year WB Electronics was founded

2,500+

Employees, per company and press reports

24%

Stake bought by the Polish Development Fund in 2017

~$0.4B

Revenue in 2023, per reference works

WB Group at a glance

Company fact sheet

Item	Detail
Legal name	WB Group (Grupa WB), formerly WB Electronics
Headquarters	Ożarów Mazowiecki, Poland
Founded	1997
Employees	More than 2,500, per company information and press reports
Revenue	About $0.4 billion in 2023, per reference works; later figures are not confirmed here
Ownership	Privately held, led by founder Piotr Wojciechowski; the Polish Development Fund holds a minority stake
Key acquisitions	Flytronic (2009, FlyEye drones) and Radmor (military radios)
Main products	Warmate, FlyEye, Gladius, Topaz, FONET and military radios

Source: public company information and reference works. Revenue and headcount are approximate.

Who owns WB Group

WB Group is privately controlled. Its public face is founder Piotr Wojciechowski, and in 2017 the state-backed Polish Development Fund (PFR) bought a 24 percent stake for PLN 128 million, a deal that gave the company capital without handing control to the state. That structure makes it the second-largest arms firm in Poland after the state-owned Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, and a rare private rival to it.

The strategy has been to buy specialists rather than build everything in-house. The 2009 purchase of Flytronic brought the FlyEye reconnaissance drone, and the later acquisition of the Radmor radio maker gave the group a role in software-defined communications, including cooperation with French Thales on European secure radio projects.

WB Group Warmate and FlyEye drones

The product most people know is Warmate, a tube-launched loitering munition that flies to a target area, loiters while an operator chooses a target, and then dives on it. Warmate comes in several versions with different warheads, and company literature claims around 30 minutes of endurance for the baseline type, a manufacturer claim. Poland ordered it early, and the drone appeared in Polish Territorial Defence Force service and in Ukraine. To see how the concept works and who else fields it, read our explainer on loitering munitions and our top 10 loitering munitions ranking.

FlyEye is the reconnaissance companion, a small fixed-wing drone that gives platoons and artillery units a video feed. It flew with Polish forces and with Ukraine’s armed forces before and after 2022, a reminder that Polish drones have been quietly present in the region for years.

WB Group Gladius, Topaz and radios

WB Group product families

Product	Type	What it does
Warmate	Loitering munition	Tube-launched attack drone with selectable warheads
FlyEye	Reconnaissance UAV	Small fixed-wing drone for video and targeting
Gladius	Soldier system	Combat digital kit linking rifles, sights and commanders
Topaz	Fire control	Artillery command and fire-direction software used with Polish howitzers
FONET	Vehicle communications	Intercom and radio system licensed to a US partner for American forces
Radmor radios	Communications	Software-defined and conventional tactical radios

Product descriptions summarized from company materials and press reports.

The soldier-system and fire-control lines matter as much as the drones. Topaz is widely reported to link with Poland’s Krab self-propelled howitzer, a system we profiled in our piece on the AHS Krab, while Gladius is meant to put Polish infantry on a shared digital picture. Trade press has described a recent Polish order for Gladius, FlyEye and Warmate as the country’s largest-ever unmanned-systems contract.

WB Group in Ukraine and export markets

Warmate became one of the best-known Polish exports once Ukraine began fielding it. Ukrainian users have reported strikes, which are operator-reported, and the company has also spoken of adapting designs on feedback from the front. Outside Ukraine, WB Group sells to NATO members and other customers, and its FONET vehicle communications system was licensed to a US partner for American forces.

The same visibility has drawn hostile attention. Polish authorities investigated a fire at a WB Group facility in 2026 as suspected sabotage, and the government has publicly blamed Russian and Belarusian services for similar attacks on Polish industry, though specific findings remain with investigators.

Editor’s read

WB Group is one of the few European defense companies that started as a small private firm and scaled with the current war rather than around it. Its strengths are speed, software and close contact with users. The test now is industrial, whether it can turn rising Polish budgets into serial drone production, keep its supply chain secure against sabotage and win export contracts without the state-owned giants behind it.