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Олександр КузьменкоWar
25 September 2025, 12:37
2025-09-25
“This user provides you with a reservation and the opportunity to sit in an office in Kyiv and make your own f*cking drone.” Taras Chmut spoke about the red flags of UAV manufacturers that the PZh pays attention to
Taras Chmut, head of the «Return Alive» army assistance fund, told what the organization pays attention to when choosing drone manufacturers for cooperation. According to him, a manufacturer who knows how to admit flaws in its products is a much more valuable partner than one that produces a «cool drone» but blames the military when something doesn’t work.
Taras Chmut, head of the «Return Alive» army assistance fund, told what the organization pays attention to when choosing drone manufacturers for cooperation. According to him, a manufacturer who knows how to admit flaws in its products is a much more valuable partner than one that produces a «cool drone» but blames the military when something doesn’t work.
He announced this at a discussion panel at Defence Tech Valley 2025. A recording of the conversation between Taras Chmut, the commander of the separate K-2 unmanned systems regiment, Kyrylo Veres, and host Yuriy Fedorenko was published by the UT-2 YouTube channel.
According to Chmut, «Return Alive» is primarily focused on the needs of the customer — a unit or military unit of the Defense Forces, which may need specific equipment with which they have previously worked or which meets certain technical parameters.
«This is the first important story, because very often there are manufacturers who create something that no one really needs. Well, it’s cool, it does something, but it has no mass practical application. And they come, say: 'Buy it, it’s cool'. We say: 'Cool', but, well, there is no mass customer for it, nothing will happen», said the head of «Return Alive.»
Taras Chmut reported that the Fund also pays attention to the company’s production capacity, openness, adequacy of communication, and willingness to explain pricing.
«This is very important for us, because we attract these funds. And, the lower the price, the more purchased funds. It is important for us to understand how adequate it is in terms of document flow, how quickly it completes the transaction, and does not waste a month, because this happens. And you lost a month, and this is a month, the money could have worked and the funds could have worked», Chmut noted.
According to him, it is also important to understand how adequate the manufacturer is in terms of recognizing its shortcomings.
«Because very often, when something goes wrong, the manufacturer is like: 'Such a bad user.' Sorry, this user provides you with a reservation and the opportunity to sit in the office in Kyiv right now and produce your own f*cking drone. Well, it’s not like this is a bad user, this is an adequate user. Maybe your drone is not like that, maybe you should at least ask about it, because very often it is like that, if there are any problems, a bad user and this is a certain indicator», explained the head of the «Return Alive» fund.
He added that a manufacturer who knows how to admit flaws in their products is a much more valuable partner than one who can make a «really cool drone» but blames the military if something goes wrong.
«[The manufacturer] needs to listen to him [the user] and understand where the problem is, because maybe they need to provide instructions for this drone, or maybe they just need to understand that there really is some kind of factory defect and try to solve it», Taras Chmut noted.
The head of the PZ added that a drone that «flies in Kyiv» does not always «fly to Pokrovska», despite the manufacturers' statements that their drones were tested in electronic warfare operating conditions.
