In 2024, Ukraine will produce thousands of long-range drones capable of striking deep into the aggressor country of the russian federation.
Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Development of Education, Science and Technology - Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov stated this in an interview with Reuters.
According to him, Ukraine already has up to 10 companies that make drones that can reach Moscow and St. Petersburg.
"The category of long-range kamikaze drones with a range of 300, 500, 700 and 1,000 kilometers is growing. Two years ago, such a category did not exist at all," the minister said.
According to him, the recent series of attacks on russian oil facilities reflects the government's efforts in facilitating the production of long-range drones. Last year, within the BRAVE1 initiative, military tech startups were awarded about USD 2.5 million in grants, and this amount will increase tenfold in 2024.
At the same time, the vast majority of manufacturers are private. As Fedorov noted, only one in 10 companies whose drones can fly to Moscow and St. Petersburg is state-owned.
Fedorov stressed that he agrees with the assessment of the head of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov that Kyiv has reached "certain parity" with Moscow in the production of long-range drones.
"We need to act in an anti-bureaucratic way. This is the essence of the breakthrough in the war of technology. We are going to continue to bet on this, to work in this direction. Because technology can really save us," he said.
Recall that Ukraine tested its own analogues of Lancet drones on occupiers.
On February 6, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he had signed a decree on the creation of a separate kind of force in the Defense Forces - the Unmanned Systems Forces.
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