Ukraine to receive 33,000 AI drone kits under US defense deal, FT reports

Ukraine will receive 33,000 artificial intelligence-powered drone kits by the end of the year under a new contract between the U.S. Defense Department and U.S.-German software firm Auterion, the Financial Times reported on July 27.

While Auterion’s software is already used in Ukrainian drones conducting combat operations against Russian forces, the upcoming shipment marks a tenfold increase in scale compared with previous deliveries, according to the company’s CEO, Lorenz Meier.

“We’ve shipped thousands and we’re now shipping tens of thousands,” Meier said, calling the scale “unprecedented.”

Drone innovation remains critical in Ukraine, as Russia has intensified its aerial assaults in recent weeks, frequently deploying hundreds of Iranian-designed Shahed drones in single attacks. On July 9 alone, Russia launched more than 700 aerial weapons in a single day—more than the total number used during some entire months earlier in the war.

Moscow’s attacks are expected to only get worse, with the Ukrainian military predicting Russian drone strikes could escalate to 1,000 per day.

To counter Russia’s relentless aerial campaign, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced earlier this week that Ukrainian domestic production of interceptor drones is underway, with the goal of producing enough to launch at least 1,000 interceptors a day.

Auterion’s drone kits will complement Ukraine’s existing drone production. The kits—compact computers known as Skynode, equipped with the Auterion’s software, a camera, and a radio—can convert manually operated drones into autonomous systems capable of resisting jamming and tracking moving targets from up to one kilometer away, Meier said.

The Virginia-based company secured a nearly $50 million Defense Department contract as part of the U.S. government’s broader security assistance to Ukraine.

Meier noted that this agreement is separate from a potential “mega-deal” involving drone co-production that President Zelensky recently discussed with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Meier emphasized that Auterion aims to support, rather than compete with, Ukraine’s domestic drone industry.

“They have a fantastic drone industry,” Meier said. “What we want to contribute are things that they do not have already and that are more software-defined warfare-centric.”

Auterion, which also has offices in Munich, expects to finalize additional software agreements with European countries, such as Germany—the second-largest military backer of Ukraine after the United States.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has become a testing ground for cutting-edge military technology. With a robust supply chain for drone components, the country is increasingly viewed as the global epicenter of drone innovation.

Auterion’s software, Meier said, could enable the next phase of warfare by allowing autonomous drone swarms to communicate and coordinate in real time. He emphasized that while AI can enhance targeting capabilities, human operators will retain the final authority to select targets.

“What we are providing is leapfrogging what’s on the battlefield right now, which is to go to AI-based targeting and swarming,” he said.

‘The world has changed,’ — Austrian official signals openness to NATO membership debate after decades of neutrality

“I am very open to having a public debate about the future of Austria’s security and defense policy,” Austria’s Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said. “Although there are currently no majorities in parliament and in the population for joining NATO, such a debate can still be very fruitful.”


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