Military Drones

California startup Firestorm Labs has gotten another big boost in its efforts to scale fast production of high performance drones using 3D printing, with a $12.5 million infusion led by Lockheed Martin’s venture capital unit.

A couple of fairly clear elements have arisen about the Pentagon’s otherwise secretive future UAV plans. The first is it intends to initially invest $1 billion in its expendable swarm program known as Replicator, with the second being participating drone makers had better be in permanent revision mode to be to produce continuously upgraded craft. 

The UK has announced it will be increasing its previously announced military aid package to Ukraine to include 10,000 additional drones at a total cost of £325 million ($416 million) – support coming at a critical time as Kyiv’s munitions run low amid blocked US assistance.

Specialized defense and security UAV company Red Cat Holdings is moving to further enhance the onboard assets of its tactical Teal Drones craft by adding voice-control capacities developed by startup Primordial Labs.

The UK military has always been gung-ho on the potentials of drone technologies, but their performance in Ukraine has solidified British convictions that UAVs have become essential to future conflict strategies – a view it is backing up with a 4.5 billion pound ($5.7 billion) investment.

Ukraine appears to be ahead of its stated 2024 objective of producing a million drones for battling Russia’s invasion, with government officials saying 200,000 of those first-person view (FPV) UAVs have already been manufactured by the nation’s proliferating aerial tech companies.

As extreme-right Republican legislators continue blocking passage of additional US aid to Ukraine, Canada has stepped up alongside European countries and the UK to promise quick delivery of thousands of drones to Kyiv for its nearly two-year defensive battle against Russia’s invasion.

Militaries in the UK, US, France, and elsewhere have long maintained specialized units within their armies, navies, and air forces to accomplish specific kinds of tasks. In the very middle of its defensive war against Russia, Ukraine is now taking that structuring a step farther by creating an entirely separate branch for drone operations.

Though Russia has relied heavily on using its Iran-supplied Shaheed-136 drones to attack Ukraine over the last year, the UAVs have to a large extent failed to live up to their frightening reputation, with defense units shooting down far more of the craft than those that reach their targets. Now, hackers have demystified the loitering missiles further by revealing another secret about them: their relatively low cost.

Though initially launched as a military response to an existential threat, Ukraine’s Army of Drones initiative has also become a major industrial and business operation – the proof being the publication of its annual results not entirely disimilar to those of a Wall Street company.

The prototype of a new drone capable of long-distance surveillance operations over oceans has been revealed by the MITRE corporation, which says the 3D printed craft can recharge itself during extended flights using solar panels on its wings.

European aviation and aerospace giant Airbus has announced its expansion in the booming security and defense UAV sector with the acquisition of US tech company Aerovel, maker of the innovative Flexrotor intelligence and reconnaissance data collection drone.

Officials in Ukraine have made a series of announcements on plans to dramatically increase drone production in the nation’s effort to drive out invading Russian forces, including a pledge to manufacture over a million first-person view (FPV) craft for attack and reconnaissance missions.

Reports that Russia‘s armed forces are starting to claw away at the specific aerial advantage Ukraine has long held with its production and skilled use of small drones took on a significant footnote this month. The qualifier designates what’s described as the mass manufactured, inexpensive AQ 400 Scythe loitering munition – a UAV capable of 750-kilometer flights deep into occupied Crimea or Russia’s heartland, and created to shift the momentum of the war in Kyiv’s favor.

Manufacturer of high capability security and defense UAVs, Performance Drone Works (PDW) has announced its C100 heavy-lift C100 quadcopter has been named to the Blue sUAS list of drones approved for US government operation.

Ascendant drone tech company Quantum-Systems is extending its involvement with Ukraine – and the nation’s defense against invading Russian forces – with the establishment of a research and development center in the country’s tech incubator initiative, according to the Ministry of Digital Transformation in Kyiv.

Fast-moving California defense startup Anduril has announced the release of a new type of aircraft called Roadrunner, which is situated somewhere between a drone and missile and designed to address the kind of military and economic dilemmas that cash-strapped countries like Ukraine face in responding to aerial attacks.

Drone companies with working ties to the US Department of Defense should find out by mid-December if their craft are among those selected for the first developmental tranche of the Pentagon’s Replicator program, which looks to match the enormous weapons systems of countries like China and Russia with the power-in-numbers might of swarms of smaller UAVs.

Ukraine has demonstrated what appears to be the first fruits of its stated determination to increase domestic drone production, with the announcement it has sent over 2,000 nationally manufactured UAVs to its defense forces, along with 3,000 first-person view craft (FPV).

Were there any doubt remaining about how the war in Ukraine has transformed the way drones are deployed – and how manufacturers now view military applications as the most lucrative area in the sector – Airbus provided compelling evidence by founding a new US unit dedicated to creating UAVs designed for martial applications in the bustling business activity.

Though Ukraine has gained well deserved admiration for its innovative and potent deployment of repurposed commercial and enterprise drones ­– as well as craft created exclusively for military use – its fighters may now be losing their aerial advantage as Russia shows its own capabilities with adapted UAVs.