Drones have played an increasingly important role in Ukraine's war against Russian invaders, from off-the-shelf consumer quadcopters to exploding drones made in Iran and retrofitted Soviet-era uncrewed fixed-wing aircraft capable of reaching Moscow. Ukraine wants more drones, and better ones, to overcome Russia's numerical advantages in troops and armaments. So on Wednesday, Kyiv launched an initiative to ramp up research and development of drones and other technology for use in battle, hoping to bring together the government, military, and private sector developers.
"Considering the enemy that is right next to us and its scale, we definitely need to develop the military tech so that we can defend ourselves," Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's minister of digital transformation, told The Associated Press. "There are many people on the battlefield now of the young generation that can work with technologies, and they need them." Fedorov gave a tour of Ukraine's expanding Army of Drones, and its up-and-coming drone operators, to BBC News ahead of the launch.
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