On Ukraine’s homefront, a DIY drone industry helps fill military’s needs
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Howard LaFranchi Staff writer
| Kyiv, Ukraine
When Ukrainian fighters began reporting back to family and friends that they could use more and better-quality drones to combat Russian forces, average Ukrainians swung into action. Today a civilian drone assembly operation – including in people’s homes – is helping many military units to stave off an encroaching enemy.
In October, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told foreign arms manufacturers that Ukraine is now capable of producing 4 million drones annually, with private companies, the military, and civilians all playing a role.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onReminiscent of U.S. and British civilians during World War II, Ukrainians are assembling drones at home to help supply the military with the thousands it uses every month in the war with Russia.
Hennadii Mischevskyi, director of testing at Social Drone, a volunteer drone assembly group based in Kyiv, assembles drones at his dining room table, sometimes drawing on the help of his 7-year-old daughter.
Social Drone started out a little over a year ago with three friends assembling five to 10 camera-carrying drones a week for one front-line army unit. Today Social Drones’ stable of 1,200 volunteers assembles about 700 drones a week.
“If I want to live in an independent Ukraine, if I want my children to grow up in a free country, I feel I have to do something to help those who are fighting on the front lines,” Mr. Mischevskyi says. “I think the growth of our group indicates just how much Ukrainians feel the same.”
Sometimes when Hennadii Mischevskyi is assembling military drones on his dining room table, his 7-year-old daughter leans on him and asks a very 7-year-old-child’s question: Why can’t you come play with me?
“I tell her Daddy is busy helping our country; I’m helping the army do its job better so they can help us,” he says. “Sometimes she asks if she can help, so I let her sort the little screws that are part of the assembly,” he adds. “I can tell she is happy to join in.”
Mr. Mischevskyi and his home drone assembly operation are a small piece of a nationwide civilian effort in Ukraine to supply the military with many of the thousands of drones it uses every month in the war with Russia.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onReminiscent of U.S. and British civilians during World War II, Ukrainians are assembling drones at home to help supply the military with the thousands it uses every month in the war with Russia.
Reminiscent of American and British civilian involvement during World War II – which ranged from the collecting of used foil to women working in factories – Ukraine’s civilian drone assembly operation is a critical factor in many army units’ ability to stave off an encroaching enemy.
Including the fundraising drives that finance the drone production, the nationwide operation offers insight into how much average Ukrainians remain involved in their country’s defense 1,000 days into the war.
“If I want to live in an independent Ukraine, if I want my children to grow up in a free country, I feel I have to do something to help those who are fighting on the front lines,” says Mr. Mischevskyi, director of testing at Social Drone, a volunteer drone assembly group based in Kyiv. “I think the growth of our group indicates just how much Ukrainians feel the same and want to do something to help.”
Indeed, Social Drone started out a little over a year ago with three friends assembling five to 10 camera-carrying drones a week for one front-line army unit. Today Social Drones’ stable of 1,200 volunteers assembles about 700 drones a week.
In October, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told foreign arms manufacturers that Ukraine is now capable of producing 4 million drones annually, with private companies, the military, and civilians all playing a role.
Civic engagement
The drone assembly campaign grew out of the surge in volunteering and civic involvement following Russia’s invasion in February 2022. Groups sprung up to help families displaced by the war and to furnish soldiers with everything from medical supplies to warm socks.
When family members and friends in combat units began reporting back that they could use more and better-quality drones, average Ukrainians swung into action.
One example is Klyn Drones in Kyiv. It started out as a volunteer group replacing homes’ war-damaged roofs, and then shifted to drone assembly this past spring when group members decided they wanted to do something to contribute to Ukraine’s defense.
“We decided [drone assembly] would be a more effective means of being involved,” says Andrii Yukhno, an engineer who runs Klyn Drones out of a basement along with two friends and two adopted dogs. “To be honest,” he adds, “we thought it would allow us to be directly involved in the elimination of the enemy.”
Six months later, Klyn – whose name means “wedge” or describes the V formation of migrating geese – delivers drones in batches of 150 to army units they have established a relationship with. In return, the soldiers send back drone footage that demonstrates their effectiveness.
“We’ve received videos of our drones striking Russian armed vehicles and targeting Russian tanks,” Mr. Yukhno says. “That gives us the sense of direct involvement in defending our country that we were looking for.”
Boost to fundraising
Those videos are also an important piece of Klyn’s fundraising – the success of which determines the pace of the group’s drone production.
“We’re finding that the initial high involvement of regular people has started to drop off as more people live their lives almost as if the war doesn’t exist,” Mr. Yukhno says. “So the videos with our drones in action remind people of the part we all have to play in defeating the enemy.”
Donors who give enough are allowed to name a drone or inscribe one with a message.
“People choose the name of the village they are from that Russia has destroyed, or the name of a loved one who was killed in the fighting,” he says.
Such videos are also crucial for the fundraising organized by Oleksandra, a conference interpreter and mother in Odesa who, like some others interviewed, asked that her last name be withheld.
The video that “really works” with donors, she says, has a kamikaze drone striking new units of Russian soldiers. “When the [operator] doing the voiceover shouts ‘Woo-hoo!’ that’s when [donors] really respond.”
Oleksandra says she considered assembling drones but realized fundraising fit better with her skills and schedule.
Recently, wanting to do more, she has started combing the internet to find quality drone parts at the best price. Most parts still come from China, but a growing share of drone kits and parts are produced in Ukraine.
“I just feel that if we can’t be on the front line, we should all be involved somehow to win this war and preserve our independence,” Oleksandra says.
Pride in quality work
Back at Klyn Drones, in a space the size of a small classroom, Mr. Yukhno and fellow assemblers Sasha and Stanislav do the painstaking work of drone-building. They wield small screw drivers, tweezers, and solder guns, with dogs Lilou and Leonia – both strays picked up in abandoned villages – at their feet.
Ukraine’s defense ministry contracts with big companies to provide large orders of drones. But civilian assemblers say the military units they supply often express their preference for the models produced by the volunteer cottage industry.
“We pay attention to the quality of our work and pride ourselves on delivering a product that will serve our soldiers well,” says Mr. Yukhno. To illustrate, Sasha points out the difference in soldering quality between a Klyn drone and a commercial model.
At Social Drone, Mr. Mischevskyi says the army units they work with know by now they can trust the product to work right out of the box because every drone gets a test flight – not the case, he says, with more mass-produced drones.
Units can alter specifications with small producers and expect faster turnaround if they suddenly need drones with, say, night vision or heavier weapons-delivery capacity.
At Tricky Drones in Odesa, co-founder and drone engineer Andrii Iavorskyi shows off a stack of boxed drones ready for shipment. As he shows a visitor around Tricky’s two-room operation just off a leafy residential street, Hryhorii Rybalka, the outfit’s sole paid employee, works on a receiver chip that will help operate the drone at longer distances.
Mr. Iavorskyi, a video producer by profession, was considering a job with a large drone manufacturer last year when he decided to start a drone assembly operation. A year later, Tricky Drones is building about 1,000 drones a month and is on a Defense Ministry list of drone suppliers military units can contact.
Operating with about a dozen volunteers, Tricky produces a variety of drones of varying sizes and functions.
Mr. Iavorskyi recalls getting a succinct request from an army volunteer unit seeking a large drone that could operate off of a car battery. “Just make it work” was the only instruction the unit sent.
But of all the drones Tricky produces, he says, he’s proudest of the reconnaissance drones that fly up to 40 miles to monitor enemy positions and movement.
“That’s a mission a soldier used to have to risk his life to accomplish,” Mr. Iavorskyi says. “To me it’s well worth the $600 that drone might cost to save a precious life.”
Oleksandr Naselenko assisted in reporting this story.
