Russia

Leading UAV developers DraganFly, Quantum-Systems, AeroVironment, and Teledyne Flir are among the companies that have provided cutting-edge aerial craft to Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, but Australian firm SYPAQ Systems is distinguishing itself in that supportive effort by providing Kyiv with drones made of cardboard.

In what may well be more bad news for soldiers in the renewed Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, a video has materialized indicating just how quickly authorities are apparently assembling the fleet of 1,000 FPV drones said they’d obtain for kamikaze strikes on invading troops.

An opposition organization active in Moscow-allied Belarus says it took a page from its invasion-fighting neighbors to the south by using drones to drop munitions on a Russian warplane that had been used to assist rocket strikes on Ukraine, purportedly inflicting considerable damage.

Despite DJI’s decision last April to halt importation to and sales of its products in Russia and Ukraine as a means of undermining their use in the war between the two countries, news reports now reveal the company’s drones continue surreptitiously flowing to Russian armed forces with the help of collaborators in China, the Middle East, and Europe.

Ukraine is doubling down on its deployment of drones in its efforts to oust invading Russian forces, pledging nearly half a billion dollars’ worth of spending for the production and procurement of UAVs – many to be made by domestic companies.

German drone manufacturer Quantum-Systems says it will soon be supplying Ukraine defense forces with over 100 more of its specialized data gathering Vector drones in a deal underwritten by Germany’s government as part of its continued support of the nation against Russia’s invasion.

Edgesource, a small company providing contracting services and tech to US government agencies, has revealed that over the course of 2022, it donated $2 million worth of its counter-drone detection system for smaller UAVs to Ukraine for its battle against Russia’s invasion.

Officials in Ukraine have announced the updated tally of the nation’s Army of Drones campaign, reporting over 1,600 UAVs have been bought and deployed for defensive purposes using funds donated to the aerial cause since its launch seven months ago.

During the eleven months it has been battling Russia’s invasion, Ukraine has demonstrated remarkably effective military deployment of consumer, enterprise, and even DYI-built drones for a variety of purposes, including reconnaissance, intelligence collection, and munition drops. Now officials say the country will take that aerial innovation to another level by developing a UAV created to intercept and destroy the explosives-laden craft Moscow has relied on in its unrelenting attacks.

If such a thing can exist in a merciless and escalating military onslaught, the good news out of bomb-rocked Kyiv today is its forces shot down 44 of the Iran-made Shaded-136 drones that Russia launched overnight in its ongoing New Year’s aerial attacks on Ukraine.

Video footage taken during the last seconds of what were reportedly drone attacks by Ukraine special forces against Russian positions and vehicles have surfaced on social media, including an astonishing shot of a UAV flying directly into the open back doors of a Russian armored vehicle as it tries to escape.

Original Luke Skywalker actor Mark Hamill has extended his support for Ukraine beyond raising money for the nation’s Army of Drones campaign to now lending a hand (or more like a throat) to helping Ukrainians keep safe from aerial strikes through their use of an app called Air Alert.

In a move that will have only minor effects on its own – but which could have larger consequences were it to be replicated around Europe, especially in terms of drone use – the Baltic nation of Lithuania has responded to increasing international instability by banning the purchase of tech from countries deemed untrustworthy, including China, for defense or public service operation.

Readers of DroneDJ will remember a story published earlier this month about video captured by a Ukraine drone – which later went viral – as it dropped a series of grenades on a Russian soldier lying on his side, who responded by irritably tossing the munitions away before they exploded. Now information has arisen claiming to add details to the story behind the footage.

Ukraine has used both military and consumer UAVs with maximum effect in defending itself from invading Russian forces, and now it’s seeking to replicate that effectiveness at sea by creating a fleet of naval drones, or uncrewed surface vessels (USV).

Ukraine forces have astonished observers with, among many other actions defending their homeland, their innovative and deft deployment of UAVs as reconnaissance and combat craft. But those aerial assets don’t always complete their missions as planned, as witnessed by a new video capturing a Russian soldier pitching drone-dropped grenades away before they can explode.

In an apparent bid to reduce dependence on Chinese drones, Russia’s state-owned defense contractor Almaz-Antey Concern has begun manufacturing small civilian aircraft at scale. The company says its aim is to assemble 400 drones in November, with another 1,000 units being produced in December when the product goes on sale.

Norway has detained at least seven Russian citizens over the last few days for flying drones and taking unauthorized photos in sensitive locations. In the latest arrest, the drone pilot is reported to be the son of Vladimir Yakunin ― a former KGB general, close associate of Vladimir Putin, and ex-chief of Russian Railways.

Geek-inclined volunteers to Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion won’t be limited to piloting repurposed consumer UAVs anymore, thanks to a new app allowing anybody in the country to provide craft and position information on attack drones and missiles that aerial defense forces can use to neutralize those threats.

A new video has emerged on social media showing what is described as Ukraine using an anti-drone gun to force a surveilling Russian DJI Mavic Pro drone to execute an emergency landing.

There seems to be disagreement on a new element in the war between Ukraine and the invading Russian army. While some media reports in recent weeks have sounded alarms about the punishing potential of Iran’s drones being deployed by Russia for strikes in Ukraine, US officials have shrugged off the craft as rather rinky-dink contraptions prone to dysfunction, and of only limited concern.