Ukraine

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.

Although not ready for deployment just yet, a new UK anti-drone weapon known as DragonFire has delivered some impressive results in testing at the very time people in Ukraine are hoping for new tech capable of neutralizing the brutal missile and UAV attacks on the nation’s cities.

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.

We all knew this day was coming when someone, either Ukraine or Russia, would put a machine gun on a commercial drone to get the upper hand. However, a video shared on Twitter shows a DJI heavy-lift drone mounted with a small machine gun, showing just how crazy times are.

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.

Ukraine officials aghast at Moscow’s merciless aerial attacks on the nation’s cities and civilian targets take note: US airspace security and protection specialist Fortem Technologies has upgraded its DroneHunter F700 anti-UAV system to more effectively defeat even larger and faster Group 3 craft like Russian Orlan-10s and Iranian Shahed-136s.

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.

Just about the time Iranian drones supplied to Russia began appearing in the skies over Ukraine last week, press reports surfaced purporting a company in Israel is moving to step around the nation’s formal refusal to take sides in the conflict by ushering anti-UAV defense systems to Kyiv using Poland as an intermediary.