Ukraine has become a testing ground for European drones, ABC News reports, noting that the war has prompted even smaller EU countries to develop their own high-tech defense sectors.
According to a source, the Cypriot company Swarmly has delivered over 200 H-10 Poseidon reconnaissance drones to Ukraine. According to company representatives, the drones have already logged over 100,000 flight hours supporting the artillery.
There is a possibility that the terrible whirring of propellers heard on Ukrainian battlefields is coming from drones built in a country of just over a million people in southeastern Europe: Cyprus.
Manufacturer Swarmly claims it has more than 200 of its H-10 Poseidon drones helping Ukrainian artillery batteries pinpoint enemy targets on the ground in all weather conditions, racking up more than 100,000 hours in the air over the past three years.
Its 5,000-square-meter (54,000-square-foot) factory, where the hum of mills shaping composite plastics echoes off the walls, has become a major source of unmanned vehicles shipped to countries such as Indonesia, Benin, Nigeria, India and Saudi Arabia, according to company officials. Most of the factory space is reserved for the production of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led even the smallest member states of the European Union to develop their own, high-tech defense industries, just as necessity has made Kiev a world leader in cutting-edge drone technology. Many EU countries are partnering with Kiev to develop this technology, and Ukraine’s front lines are usually their testing grounds.
Like Cyprus, the Baltic countries and Denmark have accelerated the development of their domestic drone and anti-drone technologies. In Greece, the drones are part of a €25 billion ($29 billion) overhaul of its armed forces.
“Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are changing warfare by offering less militarily capable countries some advantage over superior adversaries. Drones will not completely replace expensive weapons such as tanks, artillery and fighter jets,” Borsari said. “But they offer flexibility and a good price, which makes them a great force multiplier.”
Take Swarmly’s Hydra sea drone, packed with explosives and guided by satellite, for example.
Each one costs 80,000 euros ($94,500), meaning deploying a group of them to neutralize a billion-euro warship could be a bargain, company director Gary Rafalovski said.
This kind of naval weapon, destroying a much larger warship, has already been demonstrated by Yemen’s Houthi attacks, according to Fabian Hintz, a research fellow in missile technology and UAVs at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Europe.
Barriers to entry for undercapitalized companies are low, he added, because UAVs are often designed and assembled from components that are cheap and readily available on the global market.
“And that, of course, means that you generally don’t need to have the big industrial investment up front that you need with other military capabilities. You don’t need decades of experience in certain materials science or things like that,” Hintz said.
In Denmark, two companies focused on anti-drone devices reported a surge in new customers, and some of the devices were supposed to be sent to Ukraine to help jam Russian technology on the battlefield. In September, Ukraine said it was partnering with Danish companies to build components for missiles and drones at a factory in Denmark.
In the Baltic country of Lithuania, scientists and business partners have joined forces under the name VILNIUS TECH to develop unmanned aerial vehicles, automated mine detection and other military technologies. The state-owned Giraite munitions factory claims to have increased its production capacity by 50% since 2022.
Greece first demonstrated its home-made drones and anti-drone technology during a full tactical exercise in November, while NATO called on Europe’s defense sector to step up the pace.
“We need capabilities, equipment, real firepower and the most advanced technologies,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned during a visit to Romania earlier that month. “Bring your ideas, test your ingenuity and use NATO as a testing ground.”
Although the development of drones is accelerating, Borsari cautioned that the advantages of unmanned aerial vehicles are often tempered by a number of variables, such as the harsh conditions in which they sometimes fly, the training and skill levels of the operators, and the depth of logistical support to keep them functional.
Russia’s War in Ukraine and the Trump Administration’s Conflicting Messages,
which strained relations with NATO allies, forced European leaders to consider the need to become more self-reliant in defense. That is why the EU has provided billions of euros to encourage investment and strengthen its collective deterrence capacity.
It was a boost for countries like Cyprus, which took over the EU’s six-month presidency on January 1.
Cyprus will get final approval from EU leaders for around 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) of low-budget, long-term loans under the EU’s joint 150 billion euro ($177 billion) public procurement program called Security Action for Europe (SAFE).
The country’s nascent defense industry already consists of about 30 companies and research centers that produce technologies for both the civilian and military sectors, including robotics, communications networks, anti-drone systems and even satellite communications and surveillance, said Panagiotis Hadjipavlis, head of the Armaments and Defense Capabilities Development Directorate at the Cyprus Ministry of Defense.
“We have niche opportunities for very high-tech products, and that should be taken seriously,” Hadjipavlis told The Associated Press in his office, where a helmet from his days as a fighter pilot hung on a nearby coat rack.
The big players in the defense industry, he added, are among those who should take notice.
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