Latest news with #RSIEurope
Business Insider
28-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
If drone companies don't have their kit on the frontline in Ukraine they 'might as well give up,' says UK minister
Drone warfare is evolving fast in Ukraine, where companies can test their products in real time. UK and Ukraine officials have stressed the importance of a battlefield presence for drone companies. Luke Pollard, the UK's armed forces minister, said: "You might as well give up" if you aren't in Ukraine. This means that it's increasingly vital for those looking to develop the tech to have a presence there. Luke Pollard, the UK's armed forces minister, said on Wednesday: "If you are a drone company and you do not have your kit on the frontline in Ukraine, you might as well give up." Pollard, who was addressing the Drone Summit 2025 in Latvia, added that "we can see the effectiveness of Western drone technology in the hands of brilliant operators in Ukraine." Valerii Churkin, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, echoed Pollard's remarks, saying that defense tech manufacturers must have a physical presence in Ukraine. He also told the summit that drones can take too long to reach Ukraine, and that "we need to switch fully to a wartime production approach: fast, simple, scalable." "Most importantly, decisions must be based on real battlefield experience, not from spreadsheets," he said. European defense companies, including Portugal's Tekever, Lithuania's RSI Europe, and Estonia's Milrem Robots, are among those rapidly adapting to the demands of the battlefield in Ukraine. Kuldar Vrsi, the CEO of Milrem Robots, which develops military robotics and autonomous systems, told Business Insider that his company updates its products based on their performance in Ukraine. "What we have learned and changed and implemented in our systems is everything related to EW, communication, and cyber," he said. "This is a totally different environment than in peacetime training or exercise environment." Milrem Robots has a team that regularly visits Ukraine, meeting with different military units and working directly with operators responsible for their equipment. "We listen to Ukrainian troops very carefully and try to analyze and synthesize," he added. And it's about to take its on-the-ground involvement one step further, with a team based in Ukraine to "be closer to Ukrainian forces and to support them even better," Vrsi said. Tomas Milaauskas, the CEO of RSI Europe, told BI that "our mission is very simple. To produce the military equipment that helps Ukraine win." More than 100 drone companies, alongside military officials and government ministers, gathered in Latvia for the one-day summit. Ruben Brekelmans, the Netherlands' defense minister, told those present that drones had "fundamentally changed modern warfare," calling them "the most important innovation in the defense domain."
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
If drone companies don't have their kit on the frontline in Ukraine they 'might as well give up,' says UK minister
Drone warfare is evolving fast in Ukraine, where companies can test their products in real time. UK and Ukraine officials have stressed the importance of a battlefield presence for drone companies. Luke Pollard, the UK's armed forces minister, said: "You might as well give up" if you aren't in Ukraine. Drone warfare is evolving at breakneck speed, with Ukraine's battlefields becoming a testing ground where the most innovative defense tech companies can refine their products in real war conditions. This means that it's increasingly vital for those looking to develop the tech to have a presence there. Luke Pollard, the UK's armed forces minister, said on Wednesday: "If you are a drone company and you do not have your kit on the frontline in Ukraine, you might as well give up." Pollard, who was addressing the Drone Summit 2025 in Latvia, added that "we can see the effectiveness of Western drone technology in the hands of brilliant operators in Ukraine." Valerii Churkin, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, echoed Pollard's remarks, saying that defense tech manufacturers must have a physical presence in Ukraine. He also told the summit that drones can take too long to reach Ukraine, and that "we need to switch fully to a wartime production approach: fast, simple, scalable." "Most importantly, decisions must be based on real battlefield experience, not from spreadsheets," he said. European defense companies, including Portugal's Tekever, Lithuania's RSI Europe, and Estonia's Milrem Robots, are among those rapidly adapting to the demands of the battlefield in Ukraine. Kuldar Väärsi, the CEO of Milrem Robots, which develops military robotics and autonomous systems, told Business Insider that his company updates its products based on their performance in Ukraine. "What we have learned and changed and implemented in our systems is everything related to EW, communication, and cyber," he said. "This is a totally different environment than in peacetime training or exercise environment." Milrem Robots has a team that regularly visits Ukraine, meeting with different military units and working directly with operators responsible for their equipment. "We listen to Ukrainian troops very carefully and try to analyze and synthesize," he added. And it's about to take its on-the-ground involvement one step further, with a team based in Ukraine to "be closer to Ukrainian forces and to support them even better," Väärsi said. Tomas Milašauskas, the CEO of RSI Europe, told BI that "our mission is very simple. To produce the military equipment that helps Ukraine win." More than 100 drone companies, alongside military officials and government ministers, gathered in Latvia for the one-day summit. Ruben Brekelmans, the Netherlands' defense minister, told those present that drones had "fundamentally changed modern warfare," calling them "the most important innovation in the defense domain." "Every day we learn new things from our collaboration with Ukraine," he said. Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
28-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
If drone companies don't have their kit on the frontline in Ukraine they 'might as well give up,' says UK minister
Drone warfare is evolving at breakneck speed, with Ukraine's battlefields becoming a testing ground where the most innovative defense tech companies can refine their products in real war conditions. This means that it's increasingly vital for those looking to develop the tech to have a presence there. Luke Pollard, the UK's armed forces minister, said on Wednesday: "If you are a drone company and you do not have your kit on the frontline in Ukraine, you might as well give up." Pollard, who was addressing the Drone Summit 2025 in Latvia, added that "we can see the effectiveness of Western drone technology in the hands of brilliant operators in Ukraine." Valerii Churkin, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, echoed Pollard's remarks, saying that defense tech manufacturers must have a physical presence in Ukraine. He also told the summit that drones can take too long to reach Ukraine, and that "we need to switch fully to a wartime production approach: fast, simple, scalable." "Most importantly, decisions must be based on real battlefield experience, not from spreadsheets," he said. European defense companies, including Portugal's Tekever, Lithuania's RSI Europe, and Estonia's Milrem Robots, are among those rapidly adapting to the demands of the battlefield in Ukraine. Kuldar Väärsi, the CEO of Milrem Robots, which develops military robotics and autonomous systems, told Business Insider that his company updates its products based on their performance in Ukraine. "What we have learned and changed and implemented in our systems is everything related to EW, communication, and cyber," he said. "This is a totally different environment than in peacetime training or exercise environment." Milrem Robots has a team that regularly visits Ukraine, meeting with different military units and working directly with operators responsible for their equipment. "We listen to Ukrainian troops very carefully and try to analyze and synthesize," he added. And it's about to take its on-the-ground involvement one step further, with a team based in Ukraine to "be closer to Ukrainian forces and to support them even better," Väärsi said. Tomas Milašauskas, the CEO of RSI Europe, told BI that "our mission is very simple. To produce the military equipment that helps Ukraine win." More than 100 drone companies, alongside military officials and government ministers, gathered in Latvia for the one-day summit. Ruben Brekelmans, the Netherlands' defense minister, told those present that drones had "fundamentally changed modern warfare," calling them "the most important innovation in the defense domain." "Every day we learn new things from our collaboration with Ukraine," he said.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lithuanian drone manufacturer RSI Europe has a simple motto: Help Ukraine win
RSI Europe is a Lithuanian drone manufacturer that has delivered products to Kyiv. The company was founded in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. BI spoke to RSI's CEO about the company, its products, and Ukraine. Lithuanian drone manufacturer RSI Europe was founded after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Tomas Milašauskas, the CEO and cofounder of RSI Europe, told Business Insider that the company was born out of fear of what a Ukrainian defeat could mean for Europe's future security. Like its neighbor Poland, the Baltic state of Lithuania shares a border with Russia's ally Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, making it particularly wary of Moscow's threat. "Our mission is very simple," Milašauskas said. "To produce the military equipment that helps Ukraine win." The company initially focused on developing remote explosives initiation systems designed in close collaboration with Lithuanian military engineers. However, the widespread use of uncrewed aerial vehicles in the Russia-Ukraine war soon saw RSI move into the world of FPV (first-person-view) drones. FPV drones have played a major role in the conflict in Ukraine, often proving cheaper and more accurate than most artillery and still allowing operators to strike targets at a distance. RSI's main products now include RISE-1, a remote explosives initiation system, and Shpak, an FPV quadcopter that carries a payload of up to 5 kg (around 11 pounds). The Shpak drone is designed to carry out precision strikes on enemy targets using explosive munitions, the company says. It is optimized to carry a 2 kg (around 4.4 pounds) payload over a 20 km (roughly 12.4 miles) range, it adds. RSI reportedly delivered its first batch of Shpak drones to Ukraine in October. A major obstacle facing drone crews in Ukraine is the use of electronic warfare systems — the Achilles' heel of FPVs — which use the electromagnetic spectrum to disrupt GPS and video signals. In June last year, French Army Chief of Staff Gen. Pierre Schill warned that small drones could lose their combat advantage in Ukraine as such defenses continued to be developed, saying that the "impunity" of small, simple drones on the battlefield was "a snapshot in time." But as these countermeasures have advanced, drone makers have adapted. While some have tapped into artificial intelligence to beat such systems, RSI's drones are fitted with fiber-optic guidance systems and can use frequency-hopping and non-standard video frequencies to help resist EW defenses. Moving forward, the company is banking on FPVs becoming even more prominent in warfare. "The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought FPV drones to prominence as a component of modern militaries and it appears that they are here to stay," Milašauskas and Liudvikas Jaškūnas, an analyst at RSI, wrote for the Atlantic Council in June. Kyiv, too, has signaled its belief that drones are the future. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in February 2024 that Ukraine was launching a separate branch of its armed forces — the Unmanned Systems Forces — dedicated solely to drones. Its Ministry of Defense also recently announced that the Ukrainian armed forces would receive an additional UAH 2.5 billion (around $60 million) a month to procure new drones, in a move designed to allow brigades to purchase the equipment they need directly. Ukrainian defense minister Rustem Umerov said the move marked "another step towards building a highly flexible system to ensure the military has everything necessary for Ukraine's defense." Read the original article on Business Insider
