In a fundraising campaign by the drone program “Army of Drones” in Ukraine, enough money was raised to purchase DJI drones for defense.
Stacked up the 300 purchased DJI Mavic 3T drones. (Image: Ministry of Digital Transformation)
Ukraine has bought 300 Mavic 3T drones from Chinese drone maker DJI to use in the war against Russia. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Development of Education, Science and Technology Mykhailo Fedorov on Twitter on Thursday. The drones, worth a total of around 1.6 million US dollars, were seized as part of Ukraine’s “Army of Drones” program.
The 300 Mavic 3T drones are to be used for reconnaissance and as an offensive weapon. Apparently, the purchase is a measure to use in the run-up to the counter-offensive against Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.
Drones for the front
“Large drones for use at the front,” writes Fedorov in the tweet. “300 Mavic 3T are already deployed in Donbas, Zaporizhia and Kherson. The ‘birds’ have thermal imaging and zoom cameras to detect and destroy Russian hardware.” This makes it possible to determine information about Russian positions even at night, for example for reconnaissance and to provide the artillery with data for aligning the weapons. But it is also conceivable to use it to transport explosives. According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation, 160 have been sent “to the East”, 85 to Zaporizhia and 55 to Kherson.
The money for the drones was raised within three days as part of the “Army of Drones” program in a joint fundraising campaign by Monobank, Oleg Gorochowski and Igor Lachenkov, according to a ministry statement. Ukraine has already purchased 3,201 drones for around $108 million through the drone program. “The Drone Army project has become an important state support for the development of drones in Ukraine.”
DJI, however, is not enthusiastic about the use of its drones in a military conflict, either way. The company officially stopped selling drones to Ukraine and Russia back in April 2022. However, they continue to reach both countries via third countries.
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