Ukraine will receive 33,000 drone kits fueled by artificial intelligence by the end of the year as part of a new contract between the US Defense Ministry and the American software company Aterion, the Financial Times said on July 27.
While Atrion’s software is already used in Ukrainian drones performing combat operations against Russian forces, the next shipment marks an increase of ten times compared to previous deliveries, according to the CEO of the company, Lorenz Meier.
“We have shipped thousands and we now send tens of thousands”, “Meier saidcalling for the “unprecedented” scale.
Drone innovation remains critical in Ukraine, because Russia has intensified its air attacks in recent weeks, frequently deployment of hundreds of Shahed Dones designed by Iran in unique attacks. Just on July 9, Russia launched more than 700 aerial weapons in one day – more than the total number used for a few whole months earlier in the war.
Moscow attacks should only get worse, the Ukrainian army predicting that Russian drone strikes could degenerate to 1,000 per day.
To counter the relentless air campaign of Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced earlier this week that Ukrainian national production of interceptor drones was underway, in order to produce enough to launch at least 1,000 interceptors per day.
The finding kits will complement the production of existing drones from Ukraine. Kits – compact compact compacts known as Skynod, equipped with Auterion software, a camera and a radio – can convert drones with manual operation into autonomous systems capable of resisting shock and following the mobile targets at one kilometer, said Meier.
The company based in Virginia has obtained a contract of nearly $ 50 million in the assistance in the security of the United States government in Ukraine.
Meier noted that this agreement is separated from a “Mega-Deal” potential involving a co-production of drones that President Zelensky recently discussed with US President Donald Trump.
Meier stressed that ATRION aims to support, rather than to compete with the national drones industry in Ukraine.
“They have a fantastic drone industry,” said Meier. “What we want to contribute are things that they do not already have and which are more centered on the war defined by software.”
Auterion, which also has offices in Munich, plans to finalize additional software agreements with European countries, such as Germany, the second largest military holder in Ukraine after the United States.
Since Russia’s large -scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has become a test field for advanced military technology. With a robust supply chain for drone components, the country is increasingly considered to be the global epicenter of drone innovation.
The anterion software, said Meier, could allow the next war phase by allowing swarms of autonomous drones to communicate and coordinate in real time. He stressed that if AI can improve targeting capacities, human operators will keep the final authority to select the targets.
“What we provide is to skip what is on the battlefield at the moment, which is to go to targeting and swarming based on AI,” he said.
“ Le Monde has changed ”, – The Austrian official reports the opening to the debate of NATO members after decades of neutrality
“I am very open to having a public debate on the future of the security and defense policy of Austria,” said Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Beate Meinl-Reisinger. “Although there is currently no majority in Parliament and in the population to join NATO, such a debate can still be very successful.”
