Latest news with #BRAVE1
Business Insider
17-07-2025
- Business Insider
A new type of rifle bullet in Ukraine could give infantry a better way to survive unjammable drone attacks
Anti-drone rifle bullets are emerging in the Ukraine war, potentially giving ground troops a safer option against the cheap drones that are now the battlefield's No. 1 killer. While Russian troops were seen experimenting with such ammo since at least last year's winter, Ukraine's defense innovation program debuted its own version in late June. Brave1 published a video of a soldier filling a cartridge with black and grey-tipped 5.56mm rounds, before loading it into a CZ Bren 2 assault rifle and firing at a drone in a test range. "The goal is for every infantryman to carry these NATO-codified cartridges, enabling them to react quickly to aerial threats," the government organization wrote, adding that the bullets "dramatically increase the chances of downing FPV drones." Brave1 facilitated the development of anti-drone rounds, significantly boosting chances of hitting moving aerial targets like enemy FPV drones or Mavics. The goal is for every infantryman to carry this NATO-codified cartridges, enabling them to react quickly to aerial threats. — BRAVE1 (@BRAVE1ua) June 30, 2025 Brave1 did not publish footage of the bullet's interior design. However, United24 Media, an outlet run by the Ukrainian government, wrote that the bullets use a "custom-designed warhead that creates a dense and rapid fragmentation effect upon firing." In short, the tech would allow soldiers to fire a bullet that travels some distance before dispersing a spread of pellets to strike a first-person-view drone or quadcopter. That could allow infantry to start shooting at attack drones from a safer distance, compared to the last-resort measure of trying to down the threat with a shotgun, which is now the norm across Ukrainian units. The shotgun tactic has become especially needed against the rising use of fiber-optic drones by both sides. These drones receive their signals through long, thin cables instead of radio, meaning they can't be jammed via electronic warfare. As a result, many units carry 12-gauge shotguns with them. A new anti-drone bullet could allow infantry to simply bring extra rifle cartridges instead of a whole separate firearm. Brave1 did not respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider. Russian troops are making anti-drone bullets Notably, a similar style of bullet has appeared among Russian forces before. In November, Russia's 74th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade published a photo of a 5.45mm bullet, which is fired by the AK rifle. It was tipped with a heat-shrinking tube. Within the tube, the brigade wrote on its Telegram channel, there are four buckshot pellets meant to disperse and hit Ukrainian drones. It added that when handloading cartridges, troops should alternate between these new bullets and standard rounds or tracer rounds. This design appears to be more of a DIY creation and is distinct from the version that Ukraine's Brave1 showed. It's not clear if the bullet was made widely available for Russian forces. Z Parabellum MD, a pro-war Russian Telegram channel, published a separate video on November 29 showing several men working at a table to snap off the tips of 5.45mm rounds. In the footage, one of the men places heat-shrinking tubes on the bullet by hand. The channel also posted a video of a Russian soldier demonstrating the rounds, shooting them at a metal sheet in a firing range. In another example, a photo that circulated among Ukrainian channels in May showed a presentation board with an assortment of small-arms rounds used to destroy FPV drones. One of these was a 5.45mm round tipped with a casing containing six pellets. The growing appearance of such bullets on both sides shows how rapidly drone warfare is evolving in real time, with roughly three years of war driving a back-and-forth series of new technologies and tactics studied closely by militaries around the world.
Euronews
11-07-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Ukraine and EU launch €100 million military innovation partnership
Ukraine and the EU announced a €100 million fund on Friday to accelerate defence innovation by building on battlefield-tested innovations from Ukraine. The BraveTech EU initiative, unveiled at the fourth annual Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) in Rome, was announced by Ukraine's Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov and the EU's Defence Commissioner, Andrius Kubilius. BraveTech EU is the first major tech alliance between Ukraine and Europe on equal terms, with each side set to invest €50 million in the programme. The initiative will focus on small and medium-sized businesses and start-ups in both Ukraine and Europe. The alliance will see both sides exchange regulatory experience, develop innovations and procure new defence technologies. "European colleagues will receive results from the battlefield," Fedorov said at a press conference in Rome. Other European countries may also join in to fund the initiative, he added. "The EU and its member states have an industrial capacity that can help Ukraine develop new defence systems and increase European resilience," Kubilius said in a statement. The programme is set to be rolled out in two phases, starting with hackathons for Ukrainian and European defence companies in autumn, Fedorov said in a post on his Telegram page. In 2026, the plan is to expand the programme with larger grants and investment in the most promising projects. The BraveTech EU initiative will integrate Ukraine's defence industry into European mechanisms, connecting Ukraine's BRAVE1 defence technology platform with EU platforms such as the European Defence Fund (EDF) and the EU Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS). Zelenskyy has long called on Ukraine's western allies to provide more military support as the country's forces continue to battle Russia's forces since the 2022 full-scale invasion. Patriots for Ukraine The BraveTech EU programme was announced on the same day that US President Donald Trump said that Washington will send weapons, including Patriot air defence systems, to Ukraine via NATO. "We're going to be sending Patriots to NATO and then NATO will distribute that," Trump told US TV channel CBS News, adding that the alliance would pay for the systems. The Patriot missile system can detect and intercept a wide range of oncoming air targets, high-end ballistic missiles in particular, and is regarded as one of the world's best, at a time when Moscow is increasing its nightly missile and drone attacks amid its all-out war against Ukraine, now well into its fourth year. Speaking at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome on Thursday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Germany would pay for two of the systems, while Norway has agreed to supply one. After repeated Russian drone and missile onslaughts on Kyiv, authorities also announced on Friday that they are establishing a comprehensive drone interception system under a project called Clear Sky. The project includes a 260-million-hryvnia (approximately €5.3 million) investment in interceptor drones, operator training, and new mobile response units, according to Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the Kyiv military administration. Zelenskyy appealed to foreign partners to help Ukraine accelerate the production of the newly developed interceptor drones, which have proven successful against Iranian-made Shahed drones and their Russian variant, the Geran-2. "We found a solution, as a country, scientists and engineers found a solution. That's the key," he said. "We need financing. And then, we will intercept."
