Ukraine

In another setback to global drone giant DJI’s efforts to keep its consumer and enterprise products from being used in the conflict provoked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, officials in Kyiv said this week a small army of 300 Mavic 3T UAVs had been procured and sent to the eastern front in the space of just a few days.

It has long been rumored that after fighting off the brutal winter offense Moscow has waged since the New Year’s holiday, Ukraine  plans on unleashing a spring onslaught against Russian forces in the east – which, if it occurs, may feature thousands of explosive-packed FPV drones.

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.

Canadian UAV hardware and software company Draganfly has reinforced its emphatic support of Ukraine in its battle against invading Russian forces with the delivery of the first of three Situational Assessment Drones for the nation’s emergency and rescue units.

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.

Though much attention has rightfully been turned to the remarkably effective ways soldiers and citizens alike have used consumer and enterprise drones in Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, less notice has been made of the increasingly potent manner fighters in Myanmar have also been using UAVs to battle the armed forces of the nation’s repressive military junta.

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.

It’s not something one often sees from usually secretive, stealthy intelligence services: A specialized section of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has made a public appeal for donations to its project to purchase 1,000 first-person view (FPV) drones for attack missions against Russian forces.

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.

Innovative drone, software, and artificial intelligence (AI) developer Draganfly has announced the launch of a research and test center dedicated to perfecting a variety of aerial applications – not the least of which being the company’s ongoing work with Ukraine using UAVs for the detection and clearance of Russian mines.

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.

Canadian drone hardware manufacturer and diversified service company Draganfly has announced it has been tapped by Ukraine aerial solutions specialist DEF-C to provide support for its work with civil and defense clients – and supply those customers with 30 reconnaissance UAVs.