Europe and Ukraine’s dependence on China for drone production poses a major risk, a Ukrainian military official and drone manufacturer have warned.
The war in Ukraine has fundamentally changed modern warfare with more than 95% of frontline casualties in the Ukraine war now attributed to drones. While these are fairly cheap to produce, they rely heavily on supplies from third countries, which can cut off exports at any moment.
“There is a big problem with security of supply for key components” for the drones, a representative of Ukrainian drone maker Skyfall said at the EU-Ukraine Business Summit on Wednesday.
Currently, Ukrainian drone manufacturers rely mainly on Chinese imports for lithium batteries, magnets for motors and fiber optic cables.
Mykola Stavytskyi, a commander of a Ukrainian drone battalion, said Kiev would like to buy these components from Europe but is unable to.
“And (if) tomorrow, the eastern countries don’t want to sell us their fiber optic cables, they won’t sell you their fiber optic cables, but maybe they will sell it to Russia,” Mykola said. “And Europe is not prepared for that.”
Maksym Vasylchenko, CEO of Tencore, one of Ukraine’s largest manufacturers of unmanned ground vehicles, echoed similar concerns, saying Euractiv its supply could easily be cut off “if China starts a war, for example with Taiwan”.
Drone manufacturers will have to try to fit different batteries or magnets, he added, and the results may not be as effective.
Skyfall, which makes the popular Vampire bomb-dropping drone, and other manufacturers are now looking to diversify their supply chain through new partnerships.
The solution, according to Skyfall, would be to create different specialized business centers in Europe, each focused on mitigating a particular vulnerability, such as engines, sensors or cameras that come mainly from China.
(in)
