Maya Carlin
Kyiv’s prioritization of its booming drone industry has been instrumental in the country’s ability to thwart Russian advances.
Nearly three years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, drone use continues to shape the conflict. Since February 2022, both Moscow and Kyiv have relied on an array of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to carry out their respective war agendas. Russian forces have notably acquired many of their most lethal drones from Iran, while Ukraine has deployed both domestically-produced and foreign-delivered aerial weapons more regularly. As the war rages on, Kyiv is set to allocate additional resources to maintain its drone stockpile. This week, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense revealed it would provide its combat units with $60 million of direct funding per month to acquire their own UAVs. According to Defense News, this move will allow for the rapid fulfillment of the combat units’ needs. Ukraine’s Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov added that “Commanders of the units will have the flexibility to use these funds to acquire the drones that are the most effective for carrying out mission requirements at the front, which marks another step towards building a highly flexible system to ensure the military has everything necessary for Ukraine’s defense.” Previously, these units had to rely upon centralized purchasing for essential equipment.
Why Ukraine needs more UAVs
Ukraine’s prioritization of drones was recently highlighted by the announcement that Kyiv would produce 4 million UAVs annually. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Kyiv was quickly ramping up its production of these aerial weapons, which was virtually non-existent prior to Moscow’s invasion. In the same statement given by the Ukrainian president, it was also revealed that Ukraine had already contracted roughly half a million more drones in the first three quarters of 2024 than its original target.
No comments:
Post a Comment