New Platform Allows Ukrainians to Build Drones for Frontline Usage

The “Zhytomyr Drone” platform was recently launched in Ukraine to supply ordinary Ukrainians with the knowledge, materials and logistic assistance to build first-person view (FPV) drones suitable for deployment to the front line.

The program was launched by the Zhytomyr City Council, but Ukrainians from all regions can sign up for the program through the Diia government portal, which will provide them with a call sign that hides their personal data. 

After signing up for the program, Ukrainians will receive online training on FPV drone assembly and submit the drones they build for testing. If suitable the drones will then be sent to the front where reports of their usage – and presumably footage of them in action – would be made available.

Participants are required to source parts themselves, and the program also encourages engineers and suppliers to participate in order to expand the supply chain.

Residents of the Zhytomyr community – a region west of Kyiv – can receive up to Hr. 6,000 ($157) by way of reimbursement for the finally assembled drone.

Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, said this is the first platform of its kind, and authorities in other regions could join the program and compensate residents in a similar fashion by signing up as project partners.

“This is a platform that unites engineers, suppliers, logisticians and donors so that there will be even more ‘birds,’” Fedorov said in his Telegram update.

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The Russian Defense Ministry published a video showing a Ukrainian unmanned surface vessel (sea drone) equipped with an R-73 anti-aircraft missile attacking Russian helicopter in the Black Sea.

Drones have played a significant role in combatting Russia’s invasion due to their cost-effectiveness - FPV drones costing a few hundred dollars have taken out targets such as tanks and air defense systems worth millions of dollars.

As future aid from its Western allies becomes less certain, Ukraine is likely to shift its focus to its own domestic weapons production to bolster its defense capabilities.

As reported earlier by Kyiv Post, officials believed 100,000 and 120,000 drones are needed per month for which the Ukrainian government has allocated Hr.48 billion ($1.3 billion) for drone production alone in its 2024 budget.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said the country aimed to procure one million FPV drones in 2024. The number does not include other mid-range and long-range drones capable of striking targets beyond the front, which Ukraine has begun to develop and deploy on the battlefield.