Tag Archives: Ukraine

The Drone Experiment of Ukraine

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U.S. startups have spent billions of venture-capital dollars in hopes of developing the small drones that the Pentagon says it needs for future conflicts, but many have produced only expensive aircraft that don’t fly very well. Ukrainian drone makers, meanwhile, have mastered mass-producing drones despite limited resources and are looking for new customers and capital…

“No U.S. company is keeping up with Ukraine,” said CX2 co-founder Nathan Mintz. “You know their stuff works. They’ve got the ultimate high-stakes laboratory meant to battle-proof all this stuff.”

The U.S. has the capacity to build up to 100,000 drones a year, according to one Defense Department estimate. In 2024, Ukraine built more than two million drones. Some of the Ukraine-built drones that the Defense Department wants can fly hundreds of miles with explosives and have been used in attacks inside Russia…“Ukraine has made it pretty clear that they intend on being the drone capital of the planet once this war is over,” said Derek Whitley, co-founder of startup Vivum, which sells its AI software for autonomous systems to the Defense Department.

Ukrainian drones often sell for one-tenth the price of American options. They have proven on the battlefield that they can work when radio and satellite communication is blocked by electronic jamming…American startups are slower to build, deliver and update their drones, which also have often failed to weather severe electronic warfare. Many U.S. companies that brought their drones to Ukraine watched them fall out of the sky or fail to complete missions.

Excerpt from Heather Somerville, America Turns to Ukraine to Build Better Drones, WSJ, Mar. 11, 2025

 

The EU and US Bait and Switch Operation in Ukraine

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What Is Bait and Switch?
Bait and switch is a morally suspect sales tactic that lures customers [Ukraine] in with specific claims about the quality or low prices on items [joining NATO and the EU] that turn out to be unavailable in order to upsell them on a similar, pricier item [Russian invasion]. It is considered a form of retail sales fraud, though it takes place in other contexts…From the Investopedia

Why Germany Loves Russia

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Chancellor Angela Merkel’s deputy chided Siemens AG (SIE) Chief Executive Officer Joe Kaeser for traveling to Moscow, saying German companies shouldn’t sell out European values to protect business with Russia.   The conflict over Kaeser’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin last week underscores the rival forces tugging at Merkel during the crisis in Ukraine. While the European Union and the U.S. seek to punish Russia for annexing Crimea, many German corporate leaders view Putin as an economic partner.

Frankly, I found the scene a bit off-key,” Economy and Energy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, a Social Democrat who is also vice chancellor, said of Kaeser’s trip to Moscow in an interview with ARD television yesterday, according to an e-mailed transcript. “We don’t want economic sanctions, but we also have to show the Russian president that we can’t accept” his “imperial policy.”

Merkel, who learned Russian while growing up in communist East Germany, heads Russia’s biggest EU trading partner during the worst standoff since the end of the Cold War. Putin risks a “tough reaction” from EU governments if he escalates the crisis over Ukraine, she said on March 26.  While Merkel has said Germany could withstand the economic impact of European economic sanctions against Russia, the heads of Adidas , ThyssenKrupp  and Deutsche Post questioned the need for sanctions, according to the transcript of a round-table interview with the Die Welt newspaper published two days ago. It showed the CEOs saying EU policy makers mishandled their engagement with Ukraine while affronting Russia.

Asked if Putin must be stopped, Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer said, “I’d turn the question around,” according to Die Welt. “I wonder if one shouldn’t have included Putin in the process much earlier, rather than starting talks when it’s too late.” ThyssenKrupp CEO Heinrich Hiesinger said “Russia felt cornered.” Deutsche Post CEO Frank Appel said the U.S. and its allies had meddled “in the front yard of another big power” and questioned calls by EU leaders including Merkel to review Europe’s energy ties with Russia, saying Germany “will always be dependent on others” for fossil fuel, according to Die Welt.

Kaeser said meeting with Putin showed that Munich-based Siemens, Europe’s biggest engineering company, “won’t be overly influenced by short-term turbulences” involving Russia. “We’re counting on dialogue and mutual understanding,” he said in a ZDF television interview after returning from his trip, which he said Merkel’s chancellery knew about in advance.

By Tony Czuczka, Siemens CEO Rebuked as German Business Defends Putin Partnership Bloomberg, Mar 30, 2014