This article provides an in-depth look at Ukraine’s drone industry and its role in the country’s defense against Russian aggression. Here are some key points from the article:
1. **People’s FPV project**: This initiative, launched by Maria Berlinska, aims to teach civilians how to build drones from scratch using a free online course on Prometheus, Ukraine’s largest online education platform. The course covers drone assembly and programming.
2. **Victory Drones initiative**: As part of the People’s FPV project, thousands of volunteers have completed the training program, producing over 3,000 drones for the military.
3. **State-backed Army of Drones project**: In 2023, Ukraine’s government launched this initiative to provide drones to the army, with over 300,000 drones supplied through this program.
4. **Ukrainian companies leading drone production**: Around 90% of drones supplied to Ukraine’s military are homegrown, with over 200 Ukrainian companies involved in localizing production and making as many parts as possible within Ukraine.
5. **Russian response**: Russia has rapidly adapted to drone warfare, scaling up domestic production and investing $3 billion into boosting production in 2023. While still trailing Ukraine’s numbers, Russia’s production gap could close fast.
6. **Concerns about Russian advancements**: Ukrainian experts warn that Russian engineers are on the brink of a game-changer with thermal cameras and computer vision, which could enable drone swarms to operate autonomously and lock onto targets with minimal human input.
Some interesting quotes from the article include:
* “Technological militarization of society” – Maria Berlinska’s vision for Ukraine’s future.
* “Speed is the name of the game” – Serhiy Ristenko’s warning about the constant need to innovate in drone warfare.
Overall, this article highlights the importance of innovation and adaptation in drone warfare, as well as the challenges faced by Ukraine in competing with Russia’s growing drone capabilities.