Ukraine

Increased supplies of so-called suicide drones will be among the munitions included in the $1.3 billion US aid package to Ukraine announced Wednesday – aerial reinforcements that officials said will include both Switchblade and still enigmatic Phoenix Ghost loitering UAVs.

Drone hardware and systems producer Draganfly has continued its recent burst of development and production activity with a veritable change-up pitch, revealing it created a new digital display messaging UAV with partner Promo Drone as it pursued its intense work with North American police and fire services and medical and emergency response organizations in Ukraine.

The defense unit of California tech company Teledyne FLIR has followed up on the $48 million contract it signed last year with Norway by finalizing a new deal to provide the nation’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) with a veritable fleet of Black Hornet nano drones destined for Ukraine’s defense efforts.

Canadian drone and systems company Draganfly is continuing its energetic business development and scaling activities with the creation of a new production facility that will allow the firm to keep pace with rising demand – the second manufacturing expansion it has undertaken in less than five months.

Autel Robotics has issued a fresh statement explaining that military use is not the “original intention” of its product design. The development comes on the heels of Autel “lookalike” drones being discovered under the brand name Patriot at the recently concluded St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Russia.

Canadian drone hardware and systems developer Draganfly is diversifying its aerial activities in Ukraine through a new, multi-year contract to create a UAV training program destined for agencies under command of the nation’s Interior Ministry, including the National Guard and police.

In what appears to be an example of new thinking arising at the right time to meet to shifting aerial demands – especially under the influence of Ukraine’s defense of the Russian invasion – San Diego-based company Firestorm Labs is preparing to offer entirely modular drones whose 3D-printing manufacturing process aims to offer considerable flexibility and speed of production in fulfilling defense and security users’ needs.

Canadian drone hardware and software solution specialist Draganfly has moved quickly to adapt the activity of its transport and situational awareness UAVs in Ukraine to provide emergency aerial support of efforts to rescue flooding victims in Kherson.

German developer of strategic and military drones Quantum-Systems has inaugurated multipurpose centers in Ukraine to strengthen its support of the nation’s defense against Russia’s seemingly endless invasion.

Offering supporting evidence to details in DroneDJ’s exclusive report on Ukraine’s covert military program preparing drone strikes deep inside Russia, UAVs struck Moscow this morning in what appears to have been a response to the wake of relentless aerial attacks on Kyiv in recent days.

Since Russian forces stormed their country last year, Ukraine fighters have continually stunned Moscow with their remarkably innovative and effective use of consumer, enterprise, and military-grade drones in attacking invaders’ positions and compounds. Now sources offer DroneDJ insights on how Ukraine’s planners are working to muscle-up UAVs for increased strikes inside Russia itself – activities that may have been behind explosions above the Kremlin in early May.

The owner of Utah security and defense UAV producer Teal drones, Red Cat Holdings, says it is moving to deliver 200 long-range first person view (FPV) UAVs to Ukraine for use in the nation’s anticipated counter-offensive against invading Russian forces. 

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.

A Ukrainian businessman has launched a competition to incentivize drone manufacturers to land an aircraft at Moscow’s annual May 9 Victory Day parade on Red Square. What’s hard to resist is the massive prize pool, which currently stands at $550,000 and is only getting bigger.

It isn’t every day that a tech start-up comes out of stealth mode in the midst of a war threatening the very existence of its host country, but Kyiv-based One Way Aerospace is doing just that by unveiling its work to provide Ukraine with a range of affordable yet effective drone munition systems.

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.