German drone maker helps Ukrainian forces own the night

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — German drone maker Quantum Systems has recorded a three-fold increase in aircraft deliveries to Ukraine, with demand driven by the need of Kyiv’s forces to find the enemy after dark, according to company officials.

The Munich-based vendor made the first delivery of long-range Vector surveillance drones to Ukraine in 2022, starting with roughly 40 systems.

“This was around the time when Russian troops were trying to cross rivers and bodies of water to advance into Ukraine and beginning to make wider-use of jamming,” Sven Kruck, chief sales officer at Quantum Systems, told Defense News in a recent virtual interview while on a trip to Kyiv.

“The Vector had his baptism of fire during the famous battle of Siverskyi Donets in May 2022, where it was capable of directing fire through a thick layer of smoke in an electronic-warfare environment,” Matthias Lehna, business development manager at Quantum, added.

After that, fresh orders, paid for by the German government, kept coming: one last January, for 105 drones, and another in May, for a third batch of 300 Vectors.

The Vector is a mid-range reconnaissance drone with an endurance of three hours that can reach a speed of 72km per hour. A mock-up was on display here at the UMEX 2024 exhibition that runs Jan. 23-25.

“From December 2022 to January 2023, we started seeing a major increase in Russian jamming attempts , so we established a Signal channel for Ukrainian users, which currently has 200 operators in it where they exchange and provide direct feedback on what they need,” Kruck said, referring to the messenger app that advertises itself as security conscious.

Executives declined to identify which elements of the Ukrainian military operate the drones, citing operational security, saying only that the units are well known in the Ukrainian Special Forces community for their night-time capabilities.

As operators were sharing lessons learned, the vendor made improvements along three lines of effort, Kruck said: software updates, increased battery life by one hour, and hardware changes.

The latter have helped to stabilize the drones’ vertical-take-off-and-landing capabilities, enabling them to land safely in various conditions.

“We are also working on enhancing the AI capabilities of the Vector so it can better connect and integrate to battle management systems and strike drones as well as working on more sensors and radar elements so they can better detect artillery fire,” Kruck said.

Quantum Systems already has a training and logistics facility in Ukraine, where 200 operators so far have been trained with the help of 15 Ukrainian trainers. The company has plans to increase the number of local trainers to 40 in 2024.

Executives now want to take the next step, finalizing agreements to create a spare parts plant in Ukraine. The local presence would accelerate maintenance for the Vector drones and speed up the development cycle for new features, according to the company.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

阿联酋阿布扎比——据该公司官员称，德国无人机制造商 Quantum Systems 对乌克兰的无人机交付量增长了三倍，需求增长的驱动因素是基辅军队需要在夜间找到敌人。

这家总部位于慕尼黑的供应商于 2022 年首次向乌克兰交付了远程 Vector 监视无人机，最初交付了大约 40 套系统。

“当时正值俄罗斯军队试图跨越河流和水体进入乌克兰，并开始更广泛地使用干扰技术之际，”昆腾系统公司首席销售官斯文·克鲁克在最近一次前往基辅的途中接受《防务新闻》的线上采访时表示。

Quantum 的业务发展经理 Matthias Lehna 补充道：“Vector 在 2022 年 5 月著名的西维尔斯基顿涅茨战役中经受了实战考验，当时它能够在电子战环境中穿过厚厚的烟雾层进行射击。”

此后，由德国政府出资的新订单不断涌来：去年一月下了 105 架无人机的订单，今年五月又下了第三批 300 架 Vector 无人机的订单。

Vector是一款中程侦察无人机，续航时间为三小时，最高时速可达72公里。其模型在1月23日至25日举行的UMEX 2024展览会上展出。

克鲁克说：“从 2022 年 12 月到 2023 年 1 月，我们开始看到俄罗斯的干扰尝试大幅增加，因此我们为乌克兰用户建立了一个 Signal 频道，目前有 200 名用户在其中交流并直接反馈他们的需求。”他指的是一款标榜自己具有安全意识的即时通讯应用程序。

高管们以行动安全为由，拒绝透露乌克兰军方哪些部门负责操作这些无人机，只表示这些部队因其夜间作战能力在乌克兰特种部队中广为人知。

克鲁克表示，随着运营商分享经验教训，供应商从三个方面进行了改进：软件更新、将电池续航时间延长一小时以及硬件变更。

后者有助于稳定无人机的垂直起降能力，使其能够在各种条件下安全着陆。

克鲁克说：“我们还在努力提升Vector的人工智能能力，使其能够更好地连接和集成到作战管理系统和攻击无人机中，同时也在研发更多的传感器和雷达元件，以便更好地探测炮火。”

Quantum Systems在乌克兰已设有培训和物流中心，目前已在15名乌克兰培训师的帮助下培训了200名操作人员。该公司计划到2024年将当地培训师人数增加到40人。

公司高管们现在希望推进下一步，敲定在乌克兰建立一家备件工厂的协议。据该公司称，本地化运营将加快Vector无人机的维护速度，并缩短新功能的开发周期。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。