Ragnar Sass, co-founder of the Estonian Darkstar Foundation, visited Kyiv, where he attended Future Army Bootcamp 4 and spoke with Ukrainian combat units. He believes that lasers could reduce the cost of intercepting drones by 100 times, but it will take about a year for such a product to appear.
Ragnar Sass, co-founder of the Estonian Darkstar Foundation, visited Kyiv, where he attended Future Army Bootcamp 4 and spoke with Ukrainian combat units. He believes that lasers could reduce the cost of intercepting drones by 100 times, but it will take about a year for such a product to appear.
«The first phase of the robotics war has already begun — in the Ukrainian sky, on land, and at sea. Soon the first signs of the next fronts will appear: underwater and space», — Sass wrote on his social networks.
He recalled that Ukraine already has the first artificial intelligence-based interceptor drones, which have shot down over 100 Shahed.
«Finally, AI and machine learning tools are having a real impact on the battlefield — moving closer to real autonomy (beyond target identification, tracking, and last-mile delivery)», — noted the Darkstar co-founder.
Ragnar Sass noted that Ukrainian and Russian engineers are trying to establish production of drones with jet engines, which will make existing interceptor drones obsolete. According to him, the development cycle is accelerating, and if it used to take three months to counteract new technologies, now it takes only one.
«That’s why there is still a great need for any interceptors against Shahed and FPV. Lasers are promising, but it will take at least 10–12 months for them to have a real effect. However, laser systems can reduce costs by 100 times per target, and they have already had their first combat success in tracking and targeting», — Sass notes.
He also said that FPV drones are already extending the impact zone up to 40 km from the front line, making logistics almost impossible. Ragnar Sass pointed to the increasing use of road nets and ground drones, and believes that the next step will be digging underground tunnels.
«We saw promising products that will help create completely new possibilities — imagine a drone that can carry 1000 kg. This will completely change traditional aviation», — predicts the Darkstar co-founder.
This war is about rapid learning—one of Ukraine’s most modern brigades has a data processing team of over 70 people.
According to him, Ukrainian defense startups are still far ahead of European and American defense companies. And the most effective Ukrainian and European/American defense startups often operate «with almost no advertising.»
«The good news is that European early-stage defense startups are finally catching up. 7 strong teams joined this bootcamp, and some of them showed real potential and received great feedback. As the German team told us, it can take 1-2 years to achieve this level of feedback/improvement at home, but we achieved it together with Ukrainian soldiers in just 5 days», — said Sass.
He added that one of the lessons of the Russian-Ukrainian war is to learn quickly and said that «one of the most modern brigades in Ukraine» has a data processing team of more than 70 people. Ragnar Sass has previously compared elite Ukrainian units to startups.
As a reminder, Darkstar’s Future Army Bootcamp 4 is taking place this summer in Kyiv. The project is looking for developers who create interceptor drones, medium-range strike vehicles, and drones to replace the Chinese DJI.
Ragnar Sass noted that Future Army Bootcamp 5 will take place this fall.
