Ukraine

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 continued and extremely effective innovation in deploying what at their origin are consumer and enterprise drone technologies – notably first-person view craft (FPV) – have been essential to Ukraine’s defense against the larger and better equipped invading Russian Army. Now it appears technicians in Kyiv have again attained an aerial advantage by flying swarms of UAVs overseen by a craft acting as a kind of “queen” bee in those operations.

Leading global drone manufacturer Autel Robotics is facing intense international scrutiny after images in ads for its forthcoming Titan delivery UAV included what appear to be a munitions payload – presumably for military uses the China-based company recently condemned. Autel informed DroneDJ Monday the photos are fake, and that it’s working to identify their source.

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.

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.

Authorities in Finland are holding suspects believed to have exported millions of dollars worth of drones and counter-UAV components to Russia, in violation of sanctions imposed by the European Union and the US over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

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.

It’s the day after Thanksgiving, things are slow, and everyone is feeling a bit sluggish. That’s the excuse for this post, featuring another Russian soldier caught out by drone pilots in the wrong place – their Ukraine homeless – at the excruciatingly wrong time. Or in other words, herewith another video of a UAV dropping an explosive load on a Russki soldat doing number two – this one a form aerial bathroom humor decidedly short on the yucks.

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.

As part of the effort to strengthen its domestic UAV production for defensive deployment against Russia’s continuing invasion, Ukraine is testing a drone specially developed to accelerate and improve the detection and elimination of deadly landmines.

In their overlapping efforts to defeat Russia’s invading army while increasingly relying on domestic production of materials to obtain that objective, officials from Ukraine have said they’ll rapidly augment the number of drones the nation manufactures to tens of thousands per month.

Its reputation resplendent in large part due to the critical performance of its tech in service of Ukraine’s defense against invading Russian forces, German drone and robotics company Quantum-Systems has completed an eye-opening €63.6 million ($66.8 million) Series B funding round, pushing its total financing beyond the €100 million ($106 million) threshold.

Defense and security UAV specialist Teledyne FLIR Defense has unveiled the upgraded fourth-generation model of its highly touted Black Hornet drone, an aerial asset that has proven vital in surveillance and intelligence gathering work for Ukraine defense forces, among others.