First Fully Ukrainian FPV Drone Assembled in Ukraine
19 December, 2024 Viriy's FPV drone is assembled entirely from Ukrainian components. Photo credits: "Militarnyi" Vyriy Drone has assembled the first sample of an FPV copter using components made exclusively in Ukraine.
The company's founder, Oleksiy Babenko, informed Militarnyi about this. The privately owned Ukrainian company, which specializes in the production of attack drones and supplies them to the Defense Forces, this month presented a sample of a fully localized 10-inch FPV copter. Only Ukrainian components were used to assemble it: the frame, which is the platform for the rest of the system elements, motors, propellers, camera, signal transmitter and receiver, as well as the flight controller and speed controller.
The latter two were developed by the company and manufactured in Ukraine.
VYRIY F405V2 flight controllers are made in Ukraine. Each unit has national symbolism on it. Photo credits: "Militarnyi"
The Vyriy Drone team began the journey of eliminating imported spare parts back in 2023, driven by the desire to produce drones independently and minimize dependence on Chinese suppliers.
By the middle of this year, they had achieved a 70% localization rate in their production drones by initially replacing simple mechanical parts, followed by more complex electronics. Until recently, the main challenges were motors, video transmitters, and cameras, which were not produced domestically. The situation changed this year with the emergence of relevant local manufacturers.
The new copter received motors manufactured by Motor-G, a video transmitter from December1, and a thermal imaging camera "Kurbas-256" from Odd Systems. Militarnyi reported on the launch of Odd Systems production in October 2024. The company offers an optical module that, due to its own software, allows better realization of the thermal imaging sensor's potential and meets the specific needs of the military.
Thermal imaging camera manufactured by the Ukrainian company Odd Systems.
The drone still uses some Chinese components, such as neodymium magnets, camera lens-matrix units, and microchips.
This is because there is no need to replace them or because there is no temporary alternative. In the case of magnets, China has a global monopoly on their production. In terms of its technical characteristics, the fully localized copter is in no way inferior to its counterparts made of Chinese components.
The cost of a single product is about UAH 21,000, but it will be reduced by mass production. The developers note that a drone made in Ukraine will always be better than one made from imported components because it is focused on the needs of the military and is quick to make technical changes following the rapid development of technology on the battlefield. Refusal from Chinese suppliers will protect the country from Chinese export restrictions, which will only get tougher in the future.
Read more about the cost of "Ukrainianized" drones, obstacles to localization of production, and the future of the industry in the article "No China: Ukrainian manufacturers are close to independent production of FPV drones."