Ukraine trains 10,000 drone pilots for expected counter-offensive

As the current Russian aerial battering of Kyiv and other cities indicates, military officials in Moscow are seeking to stave off a Ukraine counter-offense expected to be unleashed any day now – and for which the nation’s defense forces have trained 10,000 drone pilots.

As part of the anticipated effort to drive invading Russian forces from territories they occupy, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Innovation, Development of Education, Science and Technology and Minister of Digital Transformation, said the nation has spent millions of dollars buying new drones, and training thousands of pilots to effectively use them for a range of military objectives. 

Those mission reportedly include reconnaissance and intelligence gathering of enemy troop location and movement, relaying coordinates that artillery units use to accurately strike targets, and one-way kamikaze bombing missions by explosives-loaded UAVs flown by FPV operators.

Several drone attacks in Russia proper suggest Ukraine’s aerial efforts now also rely on larger UAVs with greater flight capacities to bring the war back deep into the invader’s territory.

Read: Start-up One Way Aerospace exits stealth with details on its FPV drone production for Ukraine

Kyiv is believed to be readying a major counter-offensive that officials in Moscow appear to be trying to derail through unrelenting missile and military grade drone strikes unleashed over the past few days. 

Before those began, comments by Fedorov seemed to confirm the nation had been gearing up for a major push, in part by using funds raised by United24’s Army of Drones campaign.

“We have recently completed the first part of the UAV pilot training project – 10,000 pilots have been trained during this time,” Fedorov said recently in comments to the media about activity under the Army of Drones effort. “During the year, we managed to raise $325 million (under the program). It is interesting that people support this fundraising from 110 countries around the world.”

Fedorov went further in noting that rather than merely buying new drones for the expected counter-offensive, Ukraine has also used those preparation and procurement needs to rebuild parts of its own economy that can increasingly supply the defense effort over time.

“The Army of Drones is about the comprehensive development of the UAV sector, both from the point of view of production and from the point of view of their use,” he noted.

Fedorov added that 60 companies have or are being founded to develop and manufacture attack drones as part of Ukraine’s objectives to drive Russian troops out of the country.

In addition, funds collected by United24 are being used to buy ready-to-deploy drones from abroad, with several Western countries continuing to supply Ukraine with specialized craft of their own. 

Read: Draganfly delivers situational awareness drones to Ukraine emergency responders

Late last month, Canadian company Draganfly said it had delivered a second batch of its Commander 3 XL for use in situational awareness, emergency response, and landmine detection and clearing purposes by specialized Ukraine organizations.