Production is increasing – Kiev is relying more on self-produced drones

Both Ukrainian and Russian drones with high-resolution cameras are scouting enemy positions over battlefields in the east and south of the country. At night, the flying robots loaded with explosives try to hit targets far behind the front.

Skyeton produces the Raybird surveillance drone, which can fly up to 2,500 kilometers in offline mode. Maxim Levkiwsky, technical director of the company, is convinced that drones can be decisive for a Ukrainian victory. “The Russians have a huge advantage when it comes to the amount of people, tanks, planes and money,” he said in an interview with the AFP news agency. “So we can only win if we are technologically superior.”

Our own production is being increased
Given the West’s faltering supplies, Ukraine is trying to increase its own weapons production. However, developing a modern arms industry is a costly and lengthy undertaking. For now, Kiev is relying on drones, which are relatively cheap and easy to produce. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to have a million copies produced this year.

Production in the country can respond quickly to developments at the front, Fialkowsky says. “Nobody but us knows what equipment and what technologies we need.” Technical director Lewkiwsky was in the army himself and Skyeton prefers to hire employees with combat experience.

Russia is trying to spy on and sabotage Ukraine’s defense industry. At Skyeton, applicants are thoroughly checked; production is spread over several locations. “We are in constant danger of being attacked,” Lewkiwsky said. Security is one of the biggest challenges facing the industry.

It’s about the safety of the soldiers
When building drones, it is also about the safety of the soldiers who use them. At Skyeton, employees are currently testing how quickly the flying machines are ready to take off. Because every minute a soldier spends in the field exposes him to enemy fire.

Since the Russian invasion two years ago, the number of Ukrainian drone manufacturers has more than doubled to about 200, according to authorities. “Last year there was a boom, they sprang up like mushrooms,” said Vadym Junyk, chairman of the Association of Drone Manufacturers and co-founder of the company ISR Defense. Nevertheless, Ukraine is not yet self-sufficient in this area; it needs to import microcircuits, chips and batteries. “It is currently impossible to assemble a 100 percent Ukrainian drone,” says Yunyk.

Ukraine builds different models
Ukrainian production ranges from cheap kamikaze drones to advanced multi-purpose drones. ISR Defense’s R18 can drop explosives on enemy targets or transport supplies to soldiers on the front lines. The company’s Vampire combat drones also delivered medicine and food to residents of areas flooded after the Kakhovka Dam blew up in southern Ukraine in June 2023.

It is a race for innovation between Ukrainian and Russian manufacturers. “They learn to camouflage their drones better, and we learn to detect them better and neutralize them,” says a Vampire spokesperson, who does not give his name for security reasons.

For fear of providing Russia with valuable information, manufacturers withhold information about new products. Skyeton relies on artificial intelligence to improve navigation and detect enemy positions.

Junyk hopes such innovations will help his country compensate for other weaknesses, such as the lack of recruits. A single soldier can control an entire “swarm of drones,” he says. “That’s why we have to put all our efforts into it.”