Ігор Вишневський Hot News 16 October 2025, 09:00

"It's like Formula 1." What is technological sport and why drone manufacturers and NRCs are interested in developing it. We talked about this with the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports

In February of this year, military-technological sports were officially recognized as a new non-Olympic sport in Ukraine, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports included it in the relevant register. Subsequently, the rules of military-technological sports competitions were approved, which now include seven disciplines: FPV drone racing with a load; drone racing; CTF (cybersecurity); laser tag; NRC mission execution; light airdrop and heavy airdrop.

Are the current 7 disciplines the final list?

The parallel of disciplines is approved by the competition rules, and the competition rules themselves are, in principle, a dynamic document that can change periodically. As far as I know, the Federation of Military-Technological Sports is currently working on adding several more disciplines, so this is not the final version. In the first version of the rules, there were only three disciplines in total — drone racing, drone racing with a load, and CTF (cybersecurity).

In the second version of the rules, after the federation held a series of test competitions in accuracy resets from a light drone and a heavy drone, competitions between ground robotic complexes, and laser tag, we added these disciplines.

Therefore, I think that we will see new disciplines. But before they are included in the rules, the federation first holds some test competitions in this direction. If you will be present at competitions in military-technological sports in the future, then this is usually announced as a test section of the competition. After these test sections are held, the federation can already submit these disciplines for inclusion in the rules.

Why military-technological sports are becoming simply technological

This sport is currently undergoing certain changes. It all started as a certain story at the intersection of war and technology, which is why this sport was called military-technological. But already by holding competitions and communicating with manufacturers, the federation saw that the application of technology is actually much broader. So it can be not only military areas, but also civilian.

Because there are, for example, such areas as rescue missions, demining, cargo delivery, agricultural direction. That is, the scenarios for the use of technology during the analysis turned out to be potentially many times more than just military use. Therefore, just last week, a general meeting of the Federation of Military-Technical Sports was held, at which its participants decided to change the name to technological sports. This was done in order to expand the scope of work and slightly change the concept of scenario-based competitions.

After all, competitions are held according to certain scenarios, and if before the scenarios concerned only military areas, now work will be carried out to increase these scenarios at the expense of civilian areas. Against this background, I think, the rules will definitely change and the number of disciplines will increase. In terms of media, these competitions are also already announced as a technological sport, as was the case with the last two tournaments. So the media rebranding has already been launched, and the documentary part is currently catching up with the media track.

How did the first Ukrainian championship go and what competitions are planned?

I attended these competitions in August, because it was the first official championship, and it was held at a high level. Many participants were attracted organically, which indicates that the direction is really interesting to the audience.

The main audience of the competition is either flight schools that train drone operators, or military personnel, or equipment manufacturers. This year, there were probably more manufacturers of these devices, because for them it is an opportunity to test their products in competitive conditions and show them to the audience. In essence, it is like Formula 1, when different car manufacturers gather to hold a large-scale demonstration of what they have.

Such an event should become an annual one, and since it is already an officially recognized sport, every year the federation will hold both the Ukrainian Championship and the Ukrainian Cup for different age categories. That is, it can be the Ukrainian Championship among adults and the Ukrainian Championship among youth. The Championship is held once a year, and there can be several Cups. Various all-Ukrainian tournaments will also be held, if we are talking about the national level. But, in addition, there are also qualifying stages of regional championships and local tournaments. This year we have also seen many regional tournaments.

Are there any initiatives regarding military-technological sports in the world?

We don’t see any structured activity in the world specifically in terms of scenario use, because this is a Ukrainian innovation — when sport, technology, and the ability to manage them are combined in one form. Competitions in Ukraine are held in four domains: land, air, water, and cyberspace. And the fact that all this is collected «in one place» is definitely our innovation.

We are trying to popularize this direction and attract an international audience to Ukraine. This year, in December, the Federation of Military-Technological Sports is going to hold an international tournament, and work is underway with an international audience for this tournament.

For example, representatives of the federation recently, in September of this year, went to Turkey to Teknofest — the largest technology festival not only in this country, but also one of the largest in the world. Very similar activities took place there, many manufacturers of unmanned systems from different countries participated in it. And there our federation had its own stand and popularized this Ukrainian activity and initiative.

I am currently in Poland with the national CTF (cybersecurity) team. We are here for the European competition, and for us it is also a training camp.

In the CTF discipline, we held the Ukrainian Championship in early September, during which we assembled a team. Now the team is participating in this event, which is called the European Cybersecurity Challenge 2025. My team and I came here to gain some experience and see how we can be better at holding such competitions in Ukraine.

That is, each such event is a certain step towards the development of international cooperation in technological sports, but this is definitely our know-how.

How military-technological sports came to official status

There is a procedure for recognizing official sports, and it involves a certain procedure. Conventionally, there are two separate ways, two systems. One is through the sport of higher achievements and through the international federation. Another way is recognition through service-applied and military-applied sports. This is how military-technological sports were recognized.

This procedure assumes that this sport should imitate the actions of military personnel while performing their tasks and their work. So it is quite logical that, since this sport arose precisely at the intersection of war and technology, the public organization «Federation of Military-Technological Sports» followed this path in its recognition. Initially, in 2023, they signed a memorandum with the Ministry of Youth and Sports on cooperation in the direction of military-patriotic education. We cooperated with the federation in this direction and, in parallel, conducted consultations on how this sport can be recognized at the official level.

The procedure, in this case, also includes a certain period of cooperation with some law enforcement agency, and in this case it was the Ministry of Defense. So in February 2024, the federation signed a memorandum with the Ministry of Defense and a corresponding calendar of events. According to this calendar, they held six competitions in 2024.

For recognition, certain criteria must also be met — these are holding competitions, developing rules, having an organizational structure, the presence of most regions of Ukraine, and having a clear training system. So the federation met these criteria and in 2025 applied for recognition as an official sport. Then, after the presentation from the federation, the decision was up to the commission members. And they unanimously decided «in favor.»

As for our decisions, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, as a state body, forms a policy in this direction and is engaged in its implementation. But each sport is directly developed by its own public organization — the federation for this sport. That is, we perform a top-level coordinating function.

By what principle are participants and equipment manufacturers involved?

The Federation of Military-Technological Sports is directly involved in these issues. It is they who contact manufacturers and tell them that certain competitions are being held, and offer to join.

When the participants in the competition are flight schools or military personnel, they independently provide themselves with drones or other equipment. Of course, when a manufacturer’s team participates, it is also obvious that the members of this team are provided with equipment from it. That is, to put it simply, everyone comes with everything they have.

When it comes to expensive products, such as, for example, ground robotics complexes or heavy drones, then the participants in the competitions are almost exclusively representatives of the manufacturers. After all, they want to test this product in competition conditions, to show its work. Accordingly, the manufacturer assembles a team for this, attracts participants and provides them with its equipment.

Are there any state funds for the development of technological sports?

When a particular sport is recognized at the official level, it automatically enters our legal field. That is, we can already promote the organization of a system of competitions at all levels: national, regional, local. This includes the possibility of spending funds to promote the holding of these competitions from the budgets of all levels.

For example, if the Ukrainian championship in military-technological sports is held and regional state administrations send their teams, they can finance their participation, pay for travel and meals, that is, provide this trip. Such an opportunity appears precisely because of the official status. The official status of this sport also allows you to increase the number of competitions and really hold them systematically, attracting a large number of young people.

But how much this will be financed depends on the remaining funds in each specific case. After all, our country is at war, so the capabilities of the state, regional, and local budgets are very limited.

Currently, the Federation of Military-Technological Sports is trying to attract extra-budgetary funds for the competitions, primarily by involving equipment manufacturers in the competitions. For them, this is a really cool platform. Manufacturers are very interested in this type of competition, and therefore working with them leads, among other things, to such a rapid development of this sport, as we can observe this year.

By the way, the federation is trying to develop this sport, including through the creation of a media product. So this year’s Cup and Championship of Ukraine were filmed and can now be viewed on Megogo .

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