Ukraine Drone Enthusiasts Sign Up To Repel Russian Forces

In more favorable times, Ukrainian drone enthusiasts have flown their devices into the sky to photograph weddings, fertilize soybean fields or race other drones. for fun. Now, some are risking their lives by forming a volunteer drone force to help their country repel the Russian invasion.

“Kyiv needs you and your drone at this furious time!” read a Facebook Posted last weekend from Ukrainians military, urges citizens to donate drones of their interest and volunteer as experienced pilots to operate them.

A businessman who runs a retail store selling drones to consumers in the capital said his entire inventory consists of about 300 drones manufactured by the Chinese company. DJI was dispersed for the cause. Others are working to get more drones across the border from friends and colleagues in Poland and elsewhere in Europe.

“Why are we doing this? We have no choice,” said Denys Sushko, head of operations at Kyiv-based industrial drone technology company DroneUA. this is our land, this is our home, before the war helped provide drone services to farmers and energy companies.

Sushko fled his home last weekend after his family had to take shelter from an explosion nearby. He spoke to the Associated Press by phone and text on Friday after climbing a tree for better reception.

“We try to use absolutely everything that can help protect our country, and drones are a great tool for getting real-time data,” said Sushko, who does not have a plane. rider but is providing expertise said. still indifferent. Everyone does what they can. “

Unlike the much larger Turkish-built combat drones that Ukraine has in its arsenal, second-hand consumer drones don’t get much use as a weapon – but they can be powerful spying tools. Civilians used aerial cameras to monitor Russian convoys and then relayed images and GPS coordinates to the Ukrainian military. Some machines have night vision capabilities and a thermal sensor.

But there’s a catch: DJI, the leading supplier of consumer drones in Ukraine and around the world, offers a tool that can easily locate a drone operator. inexperienced and no one really knows what the Chinese company or its customers can do with that data. That made some volunteers wonder. DJI declined to discuss specifics of how it responded to the fight.

Taras Troiak, DJI’s drone distributor who founded the Kyiv retail store, says DJI has sent mixed signals about whether it offers priority access – or no disable – the AeroScope drone detection platform that both parties to the conflict can use for surveillance. flight path of others and the communication links between the drone and the device controlling it.

DJI spokesman Adam Lisberg said wartime use was “never foreseen” when the company created the AeroScope to provide aviation regulators and authorities – including customers in both Russia and Ukraine – a chance to detect drones flying in their immediate airspace. He said some users in Ukraine have reported technical issues, but DJI did not disable the tool or grant preferential access.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian drone experts say they are doing whatever they can to teach operators how to protect their homes.

“There are a few tricks that allow you to increase the level of security when using them,” says Sushko.

Sushko said many in the industry are now trying to get more smaller drones – including DJI’s alternatives – shipped into Ukraine from neighboring European countries. They can also be used to support search and rescue operations.

Ukraine has a thriving community of drone experts, some of whom trained at the nearby National Aeronautical University or Kyiv Polytechnic and went on to establish start-ups that build planes and drones locally.

“They have this home-building industry and all the smart people building drones,” said Faine Greenwood, a US-based consultant on drones for civilian purposes like disaster response, said.

Troiak’s DJI-branded store in Kyiv, now closed as city residents take shelter, is a hub for that community as it runs a maintenance center and holds training and fishing sessions hobby club. Even the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, once went to the store to buy a drone for one of his children, Troiak said.

A public drone-focused Facebook group managed by Troiak with more than 15,000 members exchanged tips on how to support the Ukrainian military. A drone photographer with the Ukraine Drone Racing Association told The Associated Press he decided to donate his DJI Mavic drone to the military instead of trying to fly it himself. . He and others asked not to be named out of fear for their safety.

“Risks to civil drone operators inside Ukraine,” said Australian drone security expert Mike Monnik. interact as we have in previous conflicts. In recent days, Russian-language channels on the messaging app Telegram have brought up discussions about ways to find Ukrainian drones, Monnik said.

Some in Ukraine’s drone community have experienced deploying their expertise in conflict zones because of the country’s protracted conflict with Russian-backed separatists in the east. Ukraine. Monnik’s company, DroneSec, has tracked several cases in the past year alone of both sides in the conflict arming small drones with explosives. One thing the Ukrainians say they’ve learned is that small quadcopter drones, such as those sold in stores, are rarely effective at hitting targets with explosive payloads.

“It would seem short-sighted to waste one,” says Greenwood, a consultant based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “I think the main objective would be reconnaissance. But if things are getting desperate, who knows.”

DJI also has experience in responding to militants trying to weaponize their drones and uses so-called “geo-fencing” technology to block aircraft movements. drones in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq. It is not yet clear whether it will do the same in Ukraine; even if it happens, there are ways to deal with it.

Small civilian drones cannot compare to Russia’s combat prowess but will likely become increasingly important in a protracted war, leaving drone manufacturers with no choice. to be completely neutral. PW Singer, a New America man who wrote a book about war robots, says:

“We’re going to see special equipping of these small civilian drones the same way we’ve seen in conflicts around the world from Syria to Iraq, Yemen and Afghanistan,” Singer said. “Just like the IED or the Molotov cocktail, they will not change the course of the battle but will certainly make it difficult for the Russian soldiers. “