British Companies Develop Technology To Prevent Russia From Imposing Ukrainian Reconnaissance Drones

Ukrainian drone forces. (Wikimedia Commons/Obviously

JAKARTA - Engineers at Evolve Dynamics are working on technology that can keep Ukrainian reconnaissance drones in the air and cannot be brought down by Russia, even though they are electronically blocked, in an undisclosed warehouse in the UK.

This is a small but important part of Ukraine's international ally's efforts to support their drone program, which Kyiv hopes will give the advantage over much larger enemies with more resources.

Meanwhile, companies in a number of countries are racing to supply drones and parts. Evolve focuses on developing technology designed to counter Russia's (EW) electronic warfare capabilities.

By developing an alternative radio link algorithm, they aim to make it difficult for Russia to block signals from their reconnaissance drones, making them useless.

Ukraine and Russia are known to have strengthened the implementation of the EW system, which could interfere with frequencies that channel orders from pilots to drones, causing drones to fall from the sky or miss their targets.

"This is a continuous ping-pong game between enemies," said Evolve Dynamics Chief Executive Mike Dewhirst, estimating 85 upgrades made to the company's Sky totaling sky drone over the past two and a half years.

"We are adding technology to existing drones, modifying them. It may be a software change, a hardware change," Dewhirst said.

Several military experts say that direct communication between defense companies and soldiers can be a more common feature in warfare given the rapid technological innovation, given the rapid innovation of technology.

This trend can have an impact on everything from procurement to training.

"This technology is moving very fast. I think maybe the learning cycle on the battlefield is six weeks," said Nick Reynolds, a researcher at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

"Our procurement system is not optimized for this," he continued.

Last month, a military unit in Ukraine asked Evolve Dynamics to make changes to its technology to make it safer for its pilots. After sending instructions, the military unit can implement the changes within 24 hours of the request.

Evolve Dynamics now has about 100 Skymen's reconnaissance drones flying in Ukraine, making it one of five to 10 major British drone suppliers to Ukraine, the company said.

Britain is known to be one of the largest drone suppliers to Ukraine, working with Latvia to lead the European coalition to increase production. Other allies, such as Sweden, the Netherlands, and Norway, have also provided combat drones to Ukraine.

Ukraine has developed a private military startup to innovate and build their domestic industry as war enters its third year.

In total, there are currently around 200 drone makers in Ukraine. The Ministry of Strategic Industry said the country could make as many as 2 million drones this year.

Britain has pledged to spend 325 million pounds to send 10,000 drones to Ukraine this year.