Ukraine to increase production of anti-drone protection systems
Photo: open sources
Ukraine plans to increase the production of protection systems against Russian drones, including electronic warfare and ground-based unmanned platforms, according to Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.
"We clearly lack EW (electronic warfare)," he stated on a telethon broadcast, Rubryka reports.
According to Fedorov, the drone market in Ukraine has grown by a hundred times in a year, and the government intends to develop the EW market following the same example.
"With the number of drones on both our side and the enemy's, the issue of electronic warfare arises constantly," said the digital minister. "We are doing everything to open the market and involve as many players as possible in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff. We want to start a competition because we need thousands of electronic warfare stations, trench warfare, and electronic warfare."
A recent contract was signed for remotely controlled turret systems for machine guns, Fedorov added.
"These are the first results of opening the ground-based platforms market. Remotely controlled ground-based drones will mine, demine, perform evacuation functions, and deliver ammunition," he said.
The minister mentioned that he couldn't provide more details to avoid jeopardizing the manufacturers.
In other news, Japan is allocating $37 million in aid to Ukraine, which will be used to purchase anti-drone systems.
Rubryka also reported that the UNITED24 platform ambassador, Yale University History Professor Timothy Snider, is raising funds for an air target identification system to assist the Ukrainian Air Force.
Timothy Snyder, along with four professors from leading universities worldwide, raised $950,000 for the "Safe Sky" air target detection system. These funds cover the cost of 2,500 sensors and will help protect the Sumy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions from drones and missiles.
Ukraine will soon initiate "Army of Robots" and "Army of Electronic Warfare" – digital minister
About the "Army of Drones" project
In July 2022, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff of the Armed Forces, and the State Special Communications Service, announced the first fundraising for the "Army of Drones" through the UNITED24 fundraising platform.
The drone army has been operational for over a year. During this time, Ukraine has established mass production of drones, strike UAV squadrons, and training for drone operators — the project's main achievements.
Within a year, the UNITED24 fundraising platform raised $325 million, and Ukraine has trained 10,000 UAV operators as part of the "Army of Drones" project.
Minister Mykhailo Fedorov noted that Ukraine has increased drone production and the number of drones by more than 100 times compared to the previous year.
Currently, Ukraine is experiencing a real boom in drone production due to the government's efforts to streamline procedures for developers and manufacturers of weapons and military equipment. The Cabinet of Ministers has allocated ₴40 billion this year for investments in Ukrainian drone manufacturers.
