“We’ve shipped thousands and we\u2019re now shipping tens of thousands,” Meier said<\/a>, calling the scale “unprecedented.”<\/p>\n Drone innovation remains critical in Ukraine, as Russia has intensified its aerial assaults in recent weeks, frequently deploying hundreds of Iranian-designed Shahed drones in single attacks. On July 9 alone, Russia launched more than 700 aerial weapons<\/a> in a single day\u2014more than the total number used during some entire months earlier in the war.<\/p>\n Moscow’s attacks are expected to only get worse, with the Ukrainian military predicting Russian drone strikes<\/a> could escalate to 1,000 per day<\/a>.<\/p>\n To counter Russia’s relentless aerial campaign, President Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> announced earlier this week that Ukrainian domestic production of interceptor drones is underway, with the goal of producing enough to launch at least 1,000 interceptors<\/a> a day.<\/p>\n Auterion’s drone kits will complement Ukraine’s existing drone production<\/a>. The kits\u2014compact computers known as Skynode, equipped with the Auterion’s software, a camera, and a radio\u2014can convert manually operated drones into autonomous systems capable of resisting jamming and tracking moving targets from up to one kilometer away, Meier said.<\/p>\n The Virginia-based company secured a nearly $50 million Defense Department contract as part of the U.S. government’s broader security assistance to Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meier noted that this agreement is separate from a potential “mega-deal<\/a>” involving drone co-production that President Zelensky recently discussed with U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meier emphasized that Auterion aims to support, rather than compete with, Ukraine’s domestic drone industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n “They have a fantastic drone industry<\/a>,” Meier said. “What we want to contribute are things that they do not have already and that are more software-defined warfare-centric.”<\/p>\n Auterion, which also has offices in Munich, expects to finalize additional software agreements with European countries, such as Germany<\/a>\u2014the second-largest military backer of Ukraine after the United States.<\/p>\n Since Russia’s full-scale invasion<\/a> in February 2022, Ukraine<\/a> has become a testing ground for cutting-edge military technology. With a robust supply chain for drone components, the country is increasingly viewed as the global epicenter of drone innovation.<\/p>\n Auterion’s software, Meier said, could enable the next phase of warfare by allowing autonomous drone<\/a> swarms to communicate and coordinate in real time. He emphasized that while AI can enhance targeting capabilities, human operators will retain the final authority to select targets.<\/p>\n “What we are providing is leapfrogging what\u2019s on the battlefield right now, which is to go to AI-based targeting and swarming,” he said.<\/p>\n