By Tim Kelly, John Geddie
and Ben Blanchard /
Reuters, TOKYO and TAIPEI
The CEO of U-Force, a Ukrainian producer of attack drones, in April flew to Tokyo with a pitch for Japanese officials and defense contractors: Build thousands of our drones to defend yourself and allies. Days earlier, US troops had used waterborne U-Force drones to sink a ship during a secretive exercise held where the South China Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. For years, the firm’s Magura surface vessel has helped turn parts of the Black Sea into no-go zones for the Russian navy. While the maritime geography of East Asia is very different, “the impact is extremely similar,” U-Force CEO Oleg Rogynskyy said.
A Zoom UAV multi-rotor reconnaissance drone is displayed at an exhibition for government and business officials in Kyiv on April 8 last year.
