The conflict in Ukraine has proven to absolute certainty that small drones are essential technology on the modern battlefield. I spoke with WSJ about
Skydio
’s support of Ukraine since the conflict started two years ago. Their article has an unfortunate title and framing, and using our latest drone, X10D, as the focal image is actively misleading - we only began shipping X10Ds a few weeks ago and they have yet to be deployed to the frontlines in Ukraine. Here’s what we know:
- Skydio has delivered more drones to Ukraine than any other manufacturer outside of China, including much larger US defense contractors and other startups, many of which are exclusively focused on providing drones for defense. Our drones are currently in use for a range of operations across Ukraine - including playing a critical role in investigating Russian war crimes.
- X2 serves thousands of customers around the world and is having daily impact in defense, public safety, energy, and infrastructure. As I say in the article, X2D has not held up under Russian Electronic Warfare on the frontlines - possibly the most extreme EW environment that has ever existed - but neither have other drones in its class.
- I take the fact that X2 wasn’t more successful on the frontlines in Ukraine personally – I have visited to meet with end users and understand their needs. Members of our team have been in-country almost monthly since February 2022. We could have shied away or given up, but as the leading U.S. drone manufacturer, I believe that we have a responsibility to step into the fight rather than away from it.?
- We’ve only been shipping X10 since Thanksgiving of last year but demand, usage, and customer feedback demonstrate that X10 is a huge leap forward, not just for Skydio, but for the industry. It is the first drone we’ve designed from the ground up with full insight into the needs of our most demanding customers across critical industries, including those in Ukraine.
- Early feedback from Ukraine testing X10D under a variety of extreme EW conditions has been positive to the point that they requested thousands of them to replace Chinese-made systems, thanks to our upgraded visual navigation system which makes our drones capable of flying in GPS-denied environments around energy infrastructure for inspections, urban canyons for emergency response in the hands of first-responders, and GPS-jammed battlefields.
- Like the US and many other countries, Ukraine has a fragile dependency on Chinese drone technology which is increasingly difficult to procure due to Chinese export controls, must be hacked to avoid giving away their location to the Russians, and is becoming less effective due to advances in Russian EW.??
The need for US-made drones and a strong US drone industry has never been more clear. X10 has already proven that an American company can deliver trustworthy, world-leading hardware and software, and we will make X10D useful at scale for Ukraine. But this isn’t about one company or even one country. If we care about leading the next century of aviation, if we care about having secure alternatives to Chinese drones, and if we care about doing the right thing for Ukraine, we must have an impact at scale with Western drones on the frontlines.
Leader in SaaS Technical Support, Web3, & User Experience. Serve in Civil Air Patrol as an aerial photographer/sUAS Instructor Pilot, and for YouVersion Support. Let's chat about innovative ideas and our shared vision!
1 个月Just had the incredible opportunity to fly and get signed off on the Skydio X2D in Civil Air Patrol! With its advanced obstacle avoidance, autonomous flight plans, and easy to control camera, it's a game-changer for secure aerial and photography capabilities. I'm a CAP sUAS Instructor Pilot and we'd greatly benefit from another X2D in the Maryland CAP. Imagine the possibilities if more Civil Air Patrol instructors had access to this technology. We could train more pilots and provide invaluable support to our communities and the USAF. The X2D could also help us reduce costs and respond more quickly by eliminating the need for large aircraft in some situations. Today, sUAS is too often not top of mind due to limited sUAS aircraft made in the USA. If anyone knows of a way to get an X2D funded or donated to Maryland CAP, please let me know.?It would be put to great use!
DroneTech / Geospatial Engineering Services
5 个月Adam Bry Thank you for your help!
The Tom Joad of Drones - Blue helps the CCP, too!
7 个月Maybe Skydio just needs a $1 billion or so investment from the CCP like DJI?
Founder, Circular Solar Innovating solar, battery efficiency with circular economy materials and CDR (carbon dioxide removal)
7 个月The Turkish make a lot of really good drones too, right? Why not export parts to the US and finish the rest there, not unlike what solar is doing right now.
CEO/Director of Operations
7 个月Adam, Having been in country since 2022 and served on the front lines and in other capacities I can tell you the drone industry is nowhere near where it needs to be to support Ukraine. My drone team was literally taking spare parts and building their own systems from the beginning. But the evolution of drones is going so fast The industry is not, and can't keep up. We used them for reconnaissance, then it was to drop grenades and mortars under 60 mm. Then we started building other drones to move medical supplies and small cargo. Now multirotor systems are being used as drone carriers deploying other drones and serving as a communications retrans system. Long range UAVs are used for deep strike missions, and they have evolved from air systems to ground and sea. FPV drones equipped with shape charges and RPG-7s have been effective against Russian armored vehicles. Claymore equipped drones work well on infantry formations and do a fairly respectable job over a occupied trench. The EW/ECW environment is a challenge but it's workable when you use backup systems on frequency ranges non-traditionally used by the military. We have even started using especially equipped drones for the mapping of minefields.