To keep an eye on the front lines of its ongoing conflict with Russia, Ukraine is constructing a “Army of Drones.”
Last week, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the nation’s Ministry of Digital Transformation jointly announced the “Army of Drones” project with the help of United24, a global fundraising organization founded by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. International donors are requested to contribute money to the project so that the Ukrainian military can directly purchase drones and conduct “dronations” of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Mykhailo Fedorov, the vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation for Ukraine, claimed in a tweet on Tuesday that “dozens” of drone donations in addition to about 200 million Ukrainian hryvnia ($6.7 million) had already been made to the project. The Ukrainian army, he claimed, had also acquired at least two unmanned “Warmate” systems, which are drones that can be loaded with powerful explosives for attacks akin to kamikaze.
On Thursday, Fedorov tweeted, “First batch of your drones has arrived to the frontline.” “They will now participate in the first Army of Drones in the world as actual soldiers. Each such “dronation” helps the Ukrainian cause and brings victory closer.”
According to Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute in the UK, drones were being used by both Russia and Ukraine to “very rapidly exploit” real-time images during the conflict, despite the fact that countermeasures to reduce their usefulness were also improving.
As part of the “Army of Drones” project, Ukraine hopes to acquire “200 tactical unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicles” that will “constantly monitor the front line and identify the aggressor’s positions.” Additionally, maintenance and pilot training will be paid for with donations.
The Ukrainian military is accepting “dronations” of commercial drones at warehouses in the US and Poland in addition to the military-grade drones that are being purchased. For the war effort, the project needs “thousands” of the “simpler drones.”
The United24 website has a call for donations that states, “It doesn’t matter if your drone is new or old, it just has to be in working order.” The project is looking for quadcopter drones that meet minimum required parameters.
In a video posted on the website, Fedorov declares, “Every drone saves lives and moves us closer to victory.” “Alternatively, you can give us your drone and we’ll dronete it! This is a technological conflict.”
The use of this Army of Drones will hasten our victory on the actual battlefield, he added. “Our IT Army dominates on the cyber frontline against Russia every day.”
Commercial drones are used for military purposes by other countries besides Ukraine. In their unprovoked and unfair war, Fedorov claimed that Russia was also “using hobby/commercial drones to strike and conduct reconnaissance.”
