The technological diversity of unmanned systems produced in Ukraine and employed at the front reduces the effectiveness of their use, so it is necessary to unify them.
This is reported by Ukrinform with reference to an op-ed penned for Interfax-Ukraine by Deputy Minister Valery Churkin of Defense.
“Currently, units employ plenty of drones that are similar in functionality, but differ in components, control systems, and payload. These UAVs are developed and supplied by different enterprises. Hence the multi-version of the applied technological solutions, component base, etc. This poses challenges,” said Churkin
According to the official, amid intense hostilities, several months become a significant evolutionary gap. “And if a model loses its combat effectiveness, the question arises: is it worth spending resources on its supply? Different components, different protocols, the lack of unified standards – all this reduces the effectiveness of even the best tech solutions,” the deputy minister explained.
Churkin noted that the enemy has already gone through the stage of “technological diversity” and now has a limited but unified list of drones in each segment, “and it is these models that they are technically improving and scaling up.”
“We should talk about unification. In short: this is optimizing the number of types of vehicles with the same functional purpose. This is not about standardization or eliminating competition – it is about standardization, which allows for mass production of the best models. The best option would be dozens of unified drone models in certain categories instead of hundreds of different ones. This will allow producing more better drone models at a lower cost, training drone operators faster and better, thus improving the efficiency of UAV units,” Churkin said.
He added that the unification process can go in stages, at each of which the most effective samples shall be singled out, laying the basis for standards before being scaled up.
Churkin wrote work was already underway to create transparent and clear rules that would allow manufacturers to adapt without losing competitiveness. At the same time, special focus is on the protection of intellectual rights and patenting.
“Today we have a real opportunity to jointly build an effective and most optimal unification mechanism for further scaling up the production of the best drone samples. Both the government and manufacturers can jointly influence the process. The main thing is not to miss the moment,” the deputy minister concluded.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, more than 95% of drones used by the Defense Forces at the front are produced in Ukraine.
Source: Ukraine needs unification of uncrewed systems – deputy defense chief
