One factor Trump wants from Ukraine? Its anti-drone tech

Ukraine has a thriving defense-tech ecosystem, which until now, has been funded by the government. But that can’t last forever. By relaxing or lifting export bans on Ukraine, the West has an opportunity to benefit from the lessons Ukraine has had to learn in order to protect itself from swarms of weaponized drones. This would also enable Ukraine to replace the economic losses from its agricultural industry and put defense at the heart of its rebuild.

Images of terrified soldiers panicking in the vanishing moment before the feed cuts as the first-person-view (FPV) drone takes out its target have become macabre social media fodder. Try substituting such horrifying visions from Ukraine’s battlefield for a political rally, stadium concert, or bustling transport hub in a European or U.S. city and it’s a potential glimpse into a genuine threat.

Presidential assassination attempts with long-range rifles from windows, rooftops, and tree-lined golf courses have not evolved a great deal—from JFK’s demise in 1963 to the attempts on Donald Trump’s life in 2024. That might be already changing. Drones have been used in high-profile (but ultimately unsuccessful) assassination attempts. In 2018, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said he survived an assassination attempt involving explosive drones after being targeted while speaking at a military event in Caracas. In 2021, the Prime Minister of Iraq Mustafa Al-Kadhimi survived an assassination when explosive-laden drones attacked his Baghdad residence. And last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu survived a drone attack on his residence.

Today’s drones are more affordable, widely accessible, and much more capable of high-precision, swarm attacks on key targets. Electronic warfare, once relegated to sophisticated military operations, is now potentially needed in Western cities and institutions.

Many soldiers with first-hand experience will testify that based on the anti-drone weapons and technology donated to Ukraine at the start of the invasion, Western nations remain startlingly unprepared for a new phase of terror enabled by individually targeted drones. Much of the equipment focused on suppressing a single drone had not even been tested in the heat of battle or was too complicated to operate. Almost immediately, this technology became unfit for purpose, and Ukraine had to develop its own solutions to protect its soldiers, assets, and civilians.

Drone detection and suppression equipment is advancing at a pace in Ukraine, where necessity is the mother of defense tech invention. With highly expendable, lightweight attack drones traveling at 50 miles per hour, kamikaze missions have become a cost-efficient way to take out the enemy.

While there are established players in drone suppression technology, such as Elbit Systems (Israel), QinetiQ (U.K.), and AXON’s Dedrone (U.S.), none of these systems are being battle-tested day in and day out against a sophisticated adversary.

Much of the existing equipment is only capable of blocking three-quarters of the frequencies used for communication between operator and drone. To even provide that level of protection, every vehicle or building must be fitted out with what Ukrainian soldiers call Tsukorok—or “Sugar”—to detect incoming drones before switching on their jamming devices.

Due to the prominent use of FPV drones, much of the frontline in Ukraine is affected by jamming. This has led to a greater focus on autonomous systems that can evade detection by taking flight without GPS or video feed to locate targets. We’re also seeing drones tethered to an ultra-thin, ultra-long fiber optic cable, and although it’s messy, it essentially makes them unjammable by current methods.

It’s also telling that when NATO hardware is delivered to defend Ukraine, the armored vehicles arrive with zero electronic warfare protection and are retrofitted with technology to make them usable on the battlefield. Without such protection, these assets are unlikely to survive their first hour on the frontline.

Russian forces are able to rapidly switch frequencies for the drones they are using, making the war as much a series of chess-like counter-moves to remain in the game as it is armed combat. The sophistication of detection technology must evolve daily to ensure that suppression remains effective.

Through recent work with the U.K. and Ukrainian tech startup ecosystems, I have been fortunate enough to watch their evolution in a field where constant reinvention is necessary for survival.

Kvertus, a Ukrainian company that predicted the threat from drones, has rapidly scaled up its operations to satisfy demand for its technology. Its founder will tell you bluntly the fact that he and his team are still alive is the best marketing for its products. With an estimated 800 drones per square kilometer on the frontline, this is no mean feat.

Starting with signal jamming technology, Kvertus created an anti-drone gun in 2017. This has now evolved into a host of different products, including a more passive, backpack technology for soldiers to create a protective dome while on the move. Using over 50 frequency ranges from 100 MHz to 5.8 GHA, the backpack’s series of multidirectional antennas can disable drones within a 300-metre radius. The backpack allows soldiers to keep their hands free and focus on the mission at hand rather than the skies above.

The company believes that, to date, its technology has saved well more than 50,000 lives, and it will soon launch an autonomous system to suppress drones over a range of close to three kilometers.

The company has also developed an all-terrain robot to reach stranded or injured troops, providing them with a protective dome while helping them move to safety. The dome blocks signals up to 300 meters away or, if targeted, can disable a drone six miles away. While solutions such as this have become innovative necessities in response to battalion leaders’ requests, the time may come when an injured dignitary requires further protection as they are withdrawn to safety.

And this is just one example of rising Ukrainian electronic warfare startups. Anti-drone systems such as NOTA and Bukovel-AD are also proving their worth on the battlefield.

Ukraine is advancing the next wave of anti-drone technology at pace. But as the West effectively plays catch-up on this specific aspect of electronic warfare, there is a high possibility that terrorists may soon deploy swarms of cheap FPV drones in major global cities. Only action today may prevent terrifying scenes tomorrow.

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