About once a month, French drone manufacturer Henri Seydoux makes what has become a necessary pilgrimage for many in his business - he goes to Ukraine, writes the Associated Press, quoted by BTA.
Because for drone technology, there is no harder place to survive than the front lines of the war against the Russian invasion, where both sides are using drones of all shapes and sizes for combat and surveillance, changing the nature of modern warfare.
And as battlefields are filled with electronic countermeasures and weapons to confuse, jam and shoot down drones, Ukraine has also become a very real testing ground for advances in drone technology, some of which have begun to are also spreading into non-military sectors.
For manufacturers, being able to say that their drones and related equipment have been battle-tested and field-tested by Ukrainian forces is becoming a selling point, as they sell their wares not only to their respective national defense ministries but also to police forces, border guards, rescue services and civilian users, the AP notes.
"When we say, "This is a good machine, it works," people may or may not believe us. But when it's guys in Ukraine and others who say they're happy, it has more value," said Bastian Mancini, president and co-founder of French drone maker Delair, which has teamed up with European defense manufacturer KNDS to supply Ukrainian forces with 100 explosive-laden drones. The KNDS sales brochure notes that they are “combat-proven.”
Mancini said civilian users of other non-military Doeller drones see “things that are working in Ukraine and say, ‘This is jamming-resistant, it’s radio-loss-resistant and whatnot, so it’s going to be good for civilian use, like inspecting electrical cables or something.”
“This has really helped us win new markets. It gives people confidence,” he told the AP at this year’s Paris Air Show, a major showcase for the modern aviation and defense industries.
Henri Seydoux, founder and chief executive of French drone maker Parrot, (Parrot), said Ukraine is "fascinating" from a drone technology perspective because "it's changing so fast, there are new ideas all the time". Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, he has made regular trips to meet with Ukrainian drone manufacturers, drone software developers, and military officials.
"Every quarter, the situation changes completely", he said in an interview. "Every company, let's say, that makes military equipment, or every army is very interested in drones. But the ones who really use them and understand how to use them are the Ukrainians".
For Ukraine, trying to defend itself from swarms of Russian drones heading for cities and waves of Russian troops supported by drones is a matter of survival, the AP commented. As well as finding ways to counter the electronic warfare systems that Russia uses to jam and disable Ukrainian drones, fueling what has become an arms race in unmanned technology between the two countries and for manufacturers outside Ukraine.
Small drones that drop bombs and detonate themselves on targets — mass-produced at a fraction of the cost of other, more sophisticated weapons systems supplied by allies — are becoming increasingly important to Ukraine’s resistance. The Defense Ministry in Kiev has said it plans to buy 4.5 million drones this year, all Ukrainian-made, which allow their operators to see what the machines see so they can direct their flights in real time — for example, to detonate themselves in a Russian trench or even on an individual enemy soldier. That's three times more drones than the ministry purchased last year, the Ukrainian ministry said.
"Drones saved Ukraine," said Alex Vorobey, Ukrainian sales representative for "Ailand Systems", a Ukrainian startup developing drones that detect anti-personnel mines.
Vorobei and others in the drone business say manufacturers not involved in Ukraine risk being left behind. "If you're in defense and you're not in Ukraine yet, you've come a long way," Vorobey said at the Paris show.
The micro-surveillance drone presented by Parrot at this year's Paris show is associated with Ukraine by its name - the Anafi UKR - and has also been field-tested in what Seydoux describes as a "very harsh environment" on the front lines. It is equipped with artificial intelligence technology that allows it to find its way when radio and navigation signals are jammed.
"Parrot" claims that the drone's war-ready capabilities and capabilities also make it suitable for law enforcement operations, such as crowd monitoring, tracking suspects or surveillance over borders, as well as for rescue services in remote areas or during fires and accidents, when navigation signals can be disrupted, the AP reports.
Ukraine was "a real laboratory or test bed for us to see if our products work," said Döller's Mancini. The Oskar explosive drone, which has polystyrene wings, carries a half-kilogram warhead that detonates on soldiers or lightly armored vehicles.
"Döller" developed it in less than a year, repurposing one of its civilian drones, already in use in France for mapping and inspecting electrical cables, and upgrading it for Ukraine with technology that would withstand Russian jamming.
"Five or ten years ago, many people were asking, "Are drones really useful?". "Today, no one asks that question," Mancini concluded.
The largest defense companies and new military technology companies used the Paris air show to show off their cutting-edge drones, known as "wingmen" (wingmen - translated as a military aviation term - partners) - unmanned aircraft designed to fly alongside next-generation fighter jets and change the future of air combat, Reuters reported.
A record number of drones were on display at the Paris show - the world's largest gathering of aerospace and defense manufacturers, reflecting their growing importance after proving extremely effective in the war in Ukraine and as the United States prepares for a potential conflict with China in the Pacific.
In April last year, the US Air Force selected the companies "Anduril" and "General Atomics" to develop the first fleet of drones, which are designed to fly alongside manned fighter jets and are officially known as "Joint Combat Aircraft" (Collaborative Combat Aircraft - CCA).
California-based Enderil, which has already delivered small drones to Ukraine and debuted at the air show, showed a model of its 17-meter Fury drone, planned for production in 2027 as part of the U.S. Air Force's CCA program.
"We are moving extremely quickly," Jason Levin, Enderil's senior vice president of engineering, told Reuters.
"The aircraft is very capable. We can't give any more details here, but it performs the mission of a fighter jet," he added.
Levin said Enderil had allocated $2.5 billion to build a 5 million-square-foot manufacturing facility. m in Ohio, with construction set to begin next year.
In March, "Enderil" signed a 30 million British pound ($38 million) deal with Britain to supply its compact "Altius" drone to Ukraine. The drone can be launched from the ground or air and is capable of carrying out strikes, serving as decoys or conducting cyber warfare, Reuters reported.
Larger drones like the "Fury" are part of the U.S. CCA program, which aims to have nearly 1,000 autonomous drones capable of conducting surveillance, electronic warfare and combat operations alongside manned fighter jets such as Lockheed Martin"s F-35 and the next-generation F-47 fighter jet, which Boeing" (Boeing) was selected to build after the US Air Force selected it in March.
"General Atomics" showed a model of its "YFQ-42A" drone, which is equivalent to the "Fury" at the Paris air show, with both drones designed for potential use in the Pacific if China were to invade democratically-ruled Taiwan.
"Boeing" last week demonstrated the potential of drones working in coordination with human pilots during a groundbreaking test with the Royal Australian Air Force, the US aerospace giant said at the air show.
During the test, two of Boeing's Ghost Bat drones flew alongside an E-7A Wedgetail surveillance aircraft, with a human operator remotely controlling the unmanned systems to conduct a mission against an aerial target, the company said.
The Ghost Bat has the potential to transform a single fighter jet into a combat team with advanced sensors that are like hundreds of eyes in the sky," Australian Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said in a statement.
European defense firms are also developing "wingman" drone initiatives, including Sweden's SAAB and a three-way partnership between Dassault Aviation and (Dassault Aviation), "Airbus" and "Indra Sistemas" within the framework of "Future Combat Air System". The program aims to integrate autonomous drones with manned fighter jets, Reuters reports.
The Turkish company "Baykar" showed for the first time at the exhibition two of its drone models - the high-altitude, heavy-duty "Akinci" and the "TB3", which has folding wings and can take off or land on aircraft carriers with short runways.
"Baykar" and the Italian defense and aerospace company "Leonardo" (Leonardo) officially launched a joint venture for drones earlier this week.
German company "Rheinmetall" announced at the Paris show that it will partner with "Enderil" to create new versions of the "Fury" and "Barracuda" - a cruise missile-style drone - for European markets, Reuters notes.