Last week Snake Island Institute presented the “Components of Freedom” report during a special event, organized by IRON Cluster that featured over 400 participants – from the AFU members to manufacturers and government representatives.
Our Director of Analytics, Catarina Buchatskiy, talked about the current state of localization of the drone components and the factors that impede the processes of lessening the dependency on imported details. She also commented on the governmental programs and policies in this sphere and exiting proposals on decentralization of military procurement policies.
“The range of technological solutions in the Ukrainian defense sector is impressive, but Chinese components, present in our systems, effectively obstruct our path to export. This study is designed to show all participants in the defense technology ecosystem what steps are needed to localize production and gradually overcome critical dependence on Chinese components”, – underlined Catarina during her presentation.
The event also featured a panel discussion for the representatives of R&D workshops, which was moderated by our Director of Defense Tech Viktoriia Honcharuk. The panelists presented the following units:
– 21st Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment “Kraken 1654” of the 3rd Army Corps,
– 412th Brigade of the Unmanned Systems Forces “Nemesis”,
– 8th Air Assault Corps,
– Strike UGV Company "NC13" of the 3rd Assault Brigade.
During the panel, the speakers discussed the problems that military workshops experience consistently, such as the necessity to heavily modify the drones before usage in 60-70% cases and frequent difficulties in using the controllers produced by the Ukrainian manufactures. Additionally, the servicemen highlighted the necessity for a module-based system for drone assembly and expanded and more flexible procurement mechanisms.
