10,000 Pilots Trained, $325M Raised By Ukraine's "Army of Drones" Project

A project to spread the use of military drones in Ukraine has led to the training of 10,000 persons as drone pilots, besides raising $325 million to buy and deploy attack and reconnaissance drones.

The announcement was made by Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov.

The “Army of Drones” project was launched by the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the fundraising platform UNITED24 in cooperation with the Ukrainian military.

Nearly $325 million has been collected from 110 countries so far.

The project continues to evolve. Only recently another fundraising has been completed and there will be new UAV fundraisers, Fedorov noted.

“Recently, we’ve completed the first part of the drone pilot training project, 10,000 pilots were trained during this time. That is, the “Army of Drones” is about the complex development of the UAV sphere both from the point of view of production and from the point of view of their use,” the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.

The program includes the system purchase of drones, their repair and maintenance. And if necessary, operational replacement of lost UAVs and pilot training courses.

One of the goals of the project was to create strike drone companies. It regards the formation of 60 such units, and the transformation of the doctrine of the use of UAVs, Ukrainian media reported.

In the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the first companies of strike drones were formed in March. Their creation as part of the Defense Forces was accepted by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valerii Zaluzhny.

In August last year, under the project, the first unmanned complexes of different classes were received to meet the needs of the Defense Forces of Ukraine.