Australia announced on Thursday that it would unite with friends like Britain and Latvia to support the war effort in Ukraine by joining an international drone coalition.
“It’s an important way to make our contribution to the effort to have Ukraine stay the course and be able to resolve this conflict on its own terms,” Australian defence minister Richard Marles said.
In an effort to counter Russia’s invasion, Ukraine has leaned heavily on the employment of drones to make up for a lack of artillery ammunition.
Throughout the two-year conflict, hundreds of thousands of drones have been used for a variety of tasks, including reconnaissance, assaulting enemy troops in the area, and hitting targets hundreds of kilometers distant.
This year, Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has promised to build one million drones. Ukrainian officials told AFP that outside assistance was crucial because the country’s armed forces require between 100,000 and 120,000 drones per month.
Australia made the announcement as Canberra hosted UK defence minister Grant Shapps.
Last month Britain and Latvia agreed to lead the drone coalition aimed at delivering thousands more unmanned aerial vehicles to Ukraine.
Shapps said drones had barely featured when the war began, but are “now playing increasingly a significant and sophisticated part”.
“Countries that invest in the drone coalition are not just doing it (for) Ukraine — although that is the primary purpose — but also because that stands as a potential to bring huge technological improvements and advances to our home markets,” Shapps added.
Further details about Australia’s commitment are expected to be made public in the coming weeks.
According to London, “the single largest package of drones given to Ukraine by any nation” will be provided with funding of O200 million ($250 million).
First Person View (FPV) drones are the most widely used drones on the battlefield, and Britain is supplying Ukraine with thousands of them.
When equipped with explosives, they enable pilots to strike opposing units from a distance of a few kilometers away, locate hostile units, and view real-time photographs of the terrain.
Australia operates several surveillance and other drones, and has put hundreds of millions of dollars into developing the MQ-28A Ghost Bat drone, which can travel thousands of kilometres.
