Breakneck drone is rapidly developing, as the battlefields in Ukraine are a test land where the most innovative defense technology companies can improve their products in real war conditions.
This means that it is very important for those who look forward to developing technology to get a presence there.
“If you are a drone and you do not have your group on the confrontation line in Ukraine, you may surrender as well,” said Luke Pollard, UK Minister of the Armed Forces, on Wednesday.
“We can see the effectiveness of Western aircraft technology in the hands of great operators in Ukraine,” added Pollard, who was addressing the 2025 drone summit in Latvia.
Valerie Churkin, Deputy Minister of Defense in Ukraine, repeated Pollard’s comments, saying that defense technology manufacturers should have a material presence in Ukraine.
He also told the summit that drones may take a long time to reach Ukraine, and that “we need to shift completely into a war time production approach: fast, simple and developing.”
“The most important thing is that decisions should be based on the real battlefield experience, not a data schedule,” he said.
European defense companies, including Portuguese Tekever, RSI Eurobe in Lithuania, and Milrem robots in Estonia, are among those who quickly adapt to the requirements of the battlefield in Ukraine.
Kuldar Värsi, CEO of Milrem Robots, which develops military robots and independent systems, told Business Insider that his company updates its products based on its performance in Ukraine.
“What we learned, we changed and implemented in our systems is everything related to EW, communications and cyber,” he said. “This is a completely different environment from training or exercise environment in the time of peace.”
Milrem Robots has a team that regularly visits Ukraine, meets various military units and works directly with operators responsible for their equipment.
“We listen to the Ukrainian forces with great care and we are trying to analyze and synthesize,” he added.
Vääärsi said: “He is about to take her participation on the ground a step forward, with a team based in Ukraine to be closer to the Ukrainian forces and better support them.”
“Our mission is very simple. To produce military equipment that helps in win.”
More than 100 drones, along with military officials and government ministers, gathered in Latvia for one day summit.
Robin Brickmans, the defense minister of the Netherlands, told the attendees that drones “mainly changed modern war”, describing them as “the most important innovation in the field of defense.”
“Every day we learn new things from our cooperation with Ukraine,” he said.
