“Today the Shahids are attacking Kyiv, and tomorrow they will fly to Tokyo.” Blitz with the leaders of Terra Drone and Amazing Drones about Japanese investments in Ukrainian DefTech

Meeting at Defense Tech Valley: 30 hours of travel behind an idea

The partnership began not in Tokyo offices, but at the Brave1 exhibition in Ukraine last year. Terra Drone CEO Toru Tokushige was one of the few representatives of Asia at the event. As Toru said, his journey to Ukraine took 30 hours, and since then he has visited our country more than eight times.

Toru was looking for not just a startup, but a solution to a global problem — cheap kamikaze drones. After meeting with over 100 Ukrainian companies, he chose Amazing Drones. As a result, he created a $10 million investment fund for the development of Ukrainian defense-tech.

“I was very surprised to see Tora at the exhibition. He was the only representative of Asia at the exhibition. When I asked what he was doing here, he replied that he was looking for innovations that would change the world,” recalls the acquaintance of the CEO of Amazing Drones Maksym Klymenko.

The company's main product is the high-speed (up to 300 km/h) Terra A1 (formerly known as SkyRaider) interceptor drone, which is capable of staying in the air for about 15 minutes, carrying a combat load of up to 1 kg, and flying at a distance of up to 35 km.

— Maxim, a question about the “filling”. How Ukrainian is Terra A1 and will Terra Drone help with better details?

The question is good and difficult. We understand that all foreign components are very expensive. The Japanese cameras that we wanted to use are also not cheap. Therefore, for now we are trying to install Ukrainian ones. Now quite a few interesting tech startups have appeared that make flight controllers, propellers, motors, frames and much more.

At this time, perhaps only our video transmitters are not Ukrainian. Even the thermal imagers that we use in our interceptor are Ukrainian-made.

The world is now globalized, and we understand which country produces the most drone components today, but even the Japanese use foreign parts in their drones.

— Can cooperation with Terra Drone help Amazing Drones get better components?

I'm counting on that. For example, for the use of targeting systems, for the same automation, it's no longer enough to use only Chinese cameras and Chinese accessories. So yes, we will definitely use their connections and capabilities in the world.

Export "veto" and security under attack

Despite the strategic partnership, the path is not easy. Ukraine currently has an arms export ban, which limits the ability to sell the Terra A1 to global markets. But in this regard, Japan has a lot in common with Ukraine. Since 2014, the country has a law prohibiting the export of arms to countries at war.

— Japan provides only non-lethal assistance to Ukraine, due to legislative restrictions. Do these restrictions somehow extend to private companies like Terra Drone? Still, this is an investment in miltech in a country that is currently at war.

Toru Tokushige: Japan's new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, plans to change legislation in the next few months to remove restrictions on arms exports.

In fact, the government has already changed some regulations last December. This means that the authorities have allowed some products to be exported abroad. And this is a very big change. Why did it happen? First, the ruling party won the election with a landslide victory. Second, we have been facing a threat from China for several years now. Taiwan could be invaded in 2027, so we need to prepare in advance.

In addition, we can learn a lot from the Russian-Ukrainian war. “Shaheeds” fly to you every day. When I arrived here, there were constant alarms. The issue of security comes to the fore: how can we protect our country? After all, next year or the year after, we may find ourselves in the same situation.

Geographically, we are in a very risky zone: China, North Korea and, of course, Russia are very close. And drones like the Shahed can fly 2,000 kilometers. This means that from the territory of China, North Korea or Russia, you can easily attack Tokyo, Sapporo, Fukuoka - any of our cities.

And this situation is becoming even more critical, especially when Russia transfers drone production technology to North Korea. We also see that the North Korean military is participating in this war, and they are learning new methods of warfare. Therefore, we also have to learn. Perhaps these legislative changes will even allow Japanese military personnel to be sent abroad in the future.

Future plans: R&D center and codification

The next stage of cooperation is the opening of the Terra Drone R&D center in Ukraine. The Japanese side is ready to send its engineers and production managers to adjust processes to global quality standards.

— What kind of expertise will Amazing Drones be able to transfer to its Japanese colleagues?

Maksym Klymenko: It is in terms of scaling production that I think the Japanese have more expertise — the same mass production. But we have good expertise in what is needed in our market and, in principle, in the world. Because what works in Ukraine works great in the world. But on the contrary — what works in the world does not always show itself well in ours.

Therefore, we are counting on their expertise and assistance in production, but for our part, we may help them with training personnel. As I said, the Japanese previously paid very little attention to FPV drones and unmanned aerial vehicles in general. They focused more on classic, conservative types of weapons.

For Amazing Drones, the No. 1 priority remains codification of the product in the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in order to receive government orders. In addition, the company is preparing for large-scale production, if currently one person can assemble two drones per day, then with Japanese expertise they plan to turn this process into a full-fledged assembly line.

Japanese giant Terra Drone invests in Ukrainian interceptor drone developer Amazing Drones. Deal details

On the topic

Japanese giant Terra Drone invests in Ukrainian interceptor drone developer Amazing Drones. Deal details

Ukrainian Amazing Drones has created an anti-aircraft interceptor drone that flies at speeds of up to 300 km per hour and will be useful to air defense forces

On the topic

Ukrainian Amazing Drones has created an anti-aircraft interceptor drone that flies at speeds of up to 300 km per hour and will be useful to air defense forces

The President called for contracting all effective interceptor drones to counter the "shaheeds." We understand how they work, what is available on the market, and how effective they are compared to other air defense systems.

On the topic

The President called for contracting all effective interceptor drones to counter the "shaheeds." We understand how they work, what is available on the market, and how effective they are compared to other air defense systems.

Read the country's main IT news in our Telegram

On the topic

Read the country's main IT news in our Telegram