Ukraine’s Defense Ministry handed over the 10th model of FPV drone to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Defense Minister of Ukraine, Oleksii Reznikov, announced on Facebook.
The latest drone model has “convincing specifications” and a new production scale, according to Oleksii Reznikov. On 2 August, the relevant commission at the Department of Military Technical Policy, Armaments and Military Equipment Development of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine completed the necessary procedures to put a new model of drones in service of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Oleksii Reznikov said.
“The main thing is that the lives of our soldiers are saved. This is the result of joint work, for which I would like to thank my colleague Mykhailo Fedorov [Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Digital Transformation – ed.], the Army of Drones [a Ukrainian-based project that includes the purchase of drones, repairs for the systems, and training for drone operators – ed.], the manufacturing company and all the specialists involved in the process.” Reznikov said.
Over the past 15 months, Ukaine’s Defense Ministry has already put into service more than 30 models of unmanned aerial vehicles of various types, from reconnaissance and attack drones to loitering munitions.
“All of this is being tested on the battlefield by our soldiers and modernized. Unification will gradually take place,” Oleksii Reznikov said. “We are now acting as flexibly as possible to ensure that all development teams are capable [of manufacturing new drones]. We are not going to build a stadium-sized plant as a demonstration. At least not now. We will find an asymmetric solution, and the enemy will feel it on the battlefield,” Reznikov added.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister clarified that this FPV drone, like other models, is assembled in Ukraine but mostly from foreign components.
According to Oleksii Reznikov, the next task for Ukrainian drone manufacturers would be to produce the main drone components in Ukraine and ensure diversification to guarantee the independence and sustainability of the army’s supply under any circumstances.