Ukraine’s Drones: Bayraktars, Switchblades and Ghosts.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, The United States has committed over $3 Billion worth of arms to Ukraine. These have included ammunition, artillery systems, and armoured vehicles and most importantly, unmanned aerial systems or drones. While Ukraine already had a number of different drones before the invasion, such as the Turkish Bayraktar TB2, new western systems are finding their way to the Eastern-European battlefield such as the Switchblade drone and most recently, Phoenix Ghost drones.

The Bayraktar TB2 is a Turkish-made drone in Ukraine’s arsenal. The drone is so admired among the Ukrainian resistance, there is a popular song dedicated to it. A recent newborn lemur at Kyiv’s zoo was even named after it. Ukraine bought dozens of these systems from Ankara before the Russian invasion and has used them to carry out ‘pop up’ attacks on the invaders with lethal effectiveness. Carrying Canadian-made optics and four laser-guided MAM-C or MAM-L missiles, the systems have been used to strike Russian convoys, destroy air defenses but most importantly, videos of the strikes on social media have become massive morale boosters for the Ukrainian people. Costing around a million dollars each, they are much cheaper than their western counterparts and have been referred to as the ‘Toyota Corolla’ of drones; inexpensive, reliable and effective.

The Switchblade drone, produced by AeroVironment in the United States, was shipped to Ukraine as part of an $800 million dollar arms package announced by the US government. The Switchblade is a kamikaze drone, meaning it flies towards its target with its warhead detonating on impact. Unlike other anti-vehicle weapons, the Switchblade is also a loitering munition, meaning it has time to stalk its target before being let loose. The drone comes in two sizes, the Switchblade 300 and the Switchblade 600. The 300 carries a smaller 40mm warhead while the 600 carries an anti-armour Javelin warhead, the same Javelin that is destroying Russian tanks across the country. Launched from a man-portable mortar-tube, it can be carried in a backpack and quickly set up and used with minimal training. First used by American Special Forces against the Taliban in 2010, the dive-bombing drone will be ideal for locating and destroying Russian vehicles.

Phoenix Ghost drones are a brand-new line of drones that have never been deployed in combat. Developed by the US Air Force, the Phoenix Ghost drone was “partly designed with Ukraine in mind.” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters “[The drone] was developed for a set of requirements that very closely match what the Ukrainians need right now in Donbas” referring to the Eastern region of Ukraine, where Russia has focused its assault. Developed by AEVEX Aerospace, a secretive California-based company, very little else is known about the system. John Kirby refused to give details about the drone stating “I would just tell you that this unmanned aerial system is designed for tactical operations.” “In other words, largely and but not exclusively to attack targets. It, like almost all unmanned aerial systems, of course, has optics. So it can also be used to give you a sight picture of what it's seeing, of course. But its principal focus is attack.” After doing independent research, this Author’s conclusion is that the Phoenix Ghost will be used to assist Ukrainian artillery crews in spotting rival Russian artillery batteries and destroying them.

These are but three of the drones being used by Ukraine in their fight for self-determination. Numerous other systems are being deployed by both sides in the conflict, such as the Russian Orlan-10, a medium-range multipurpose drone. Regardless of which side is using them, drones will continue to proliferate among ground forces on the modern battlefield as they are a cost-effective way of engaging the enemy without putting their own soldiers in harm’s way. The days of using only a few prohibitively expensive, technology laden American drones is fast disappearing as modern armies now demand smaller, and less expensive drones to be used by ground forces. Western countries are beginning to see how they might be able to help both Ukraine and themselves by understanding how these systems work on a real battlefield against a difficult near-peer adversary. What they learn now in the Donbas has real-world implications far beyond Ukraine.

The Switchblade drone being Launched.

Canada's New Drone Rules: A Summary

New rules governing drone use in Canada were released this morning by the Minister of Transportation Marc Garneau. These new rules only come into effect on June 1st 2019, so take time to review them before worrying about their requirements.

The biggest topics or changes from the previous rule regime are: Basic and Advanced Operations licenses, liability insurance not being required, drone registration online and recency requirements. These apply to all drones weighing 250g up to and including 25kg and operated within line of sight; this is a marked difference from the previous draft of regulations which separated rule classes based on weight. There is no longer a difference between recreational and commercial flying. All pilots of drones must get a pilot certificate.

The new licenses/certificates are: Pilot Certificate: Basic Operations and Pilot Certificate Advanced Operations. These two new categories of drone operations are based on distance from bystanders and airspace rules. This handy infographic from Transport Canada gives a good run down of the operation types. To conduct basic operations, you’ll need to pass the basic operations exam and register your drone online. For advanced operations, you’ll need to pass the advanced operations exam, pass a flight review with a flight reviewer and register your drone online. Micro-drones such as the DJI Tello, do not follow under either category or have to register but must be kept away from airports and not put people/property or other aircraft in danger. Anything over 25kg requires special permission in the form of a Special Flight Operations Certificate.

Liability insurance is no longer required for the basic and advanced operations categories but is recommended. However, liability insurance will more than likely be relevant for anything over 25kg. This is an incredible amount of cost savings for individual owner/operators and since it is not required, deductibles can be tailored to the pilots operations.

All drones (except those under 250g) will need to be registered through the Transport Canada online portal before their first flight. The previous rules only required you write your name and address on the drone – this time, a registration number and barcode will need to be printed and attached as well as now the government has your information. A similar requirement in the USA was needed until a recent court challenge struck it down.

Lastly, all pilots will need to keep their drone knowledge up to date. If your knowledge level lapses more than 2 years, your certificate can be invalidated. Transport Canada’s ‘Recency Requirements” outlines acceptable activities to prove that you have retained your flight knowledge; such as attending a safety seminar by Transport Canada or completing a recurring training program. I personally think this requirement is extremely arbitrary and will be circumvented easily. I understand what Transport Canada is trying to do here which is maintain education levels for Canada’s drone pilots, however I can see this just being a cash-for-signature business unless it is clearly outlined how this will be carried out.

Military Drones: Then and Now

I was first interested in the military side of drone technology when I started to follow it more than decade ago. One of the first instances of armed drones being used in a theater of conflict was back in 2002. The San-Diego based General Atomics design known as the ‘Predator RQ-1’ - which had been used previously in the Balkans conflict as aerial surveillance - was the machine that carried out the targeting killings of Al-Qaida militants on Yemenis soil.

Fast-forward to 2018 and now Chinese-made models are doing exactly same thing. A Chinese ‘Wing Loong II” drone controlled by Emirati forces targeted and destroyed an SUV carrying a top Shiite Houthi rebel official. The Chinese copy is comparable to the General Atomics ‘MQ-9 Reaper’ design which has been used by the US military across Afghanistan and Iraq. According to a top China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp executive: "In recent years, all types of drones have proven their value and importance through a high degree of use in warfare, and the military has noticed. Many countries are now speeding up the development for these weapons systems, including China.”

Due to weapons export controls, US drone technology has only been used by its closest allies such as France, Spain and the UK. This balance of power changes with the introduction of technology-capable, armed Chinese models. Not only are they considerably cheaper than US or Israeli-made drones but the communist Chinese have no qualms about selling them to despotic or criminal regimes. Chinese sales of armed drones are booming: They have been spotted at airfields in Jordan, the UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and even parked beside American models in Saudi Arabia. This has encouraged the US to drop their export controls for more of its allies - even for their armed versions.

In my opinion, the US are already working on versions (most likely with jet-engines) that will render the Chinese versions obsolete in the short-term. However, this will not discourage Beijing’s allocation of defense spending on their drone programs, potentially sparking an aerial robotic arms race between two world powers in the foreseeable future.

The American-made MQ-9 Reaper has been in service for almost a decade.

The Chinese made ‘Wing Loong II” seen at an arms bazaar - an obvious copy.

Drone Delivery in Switzerland

Matternet, a drone-delivery company based in Silicon Valley’s Menlo Park California, has recently joined forces with Daimler, as well as the government of Switzerland, to bring rolling distribution hubs for aerial package delivery. While the initial focus of the initiative was on the speedy delivery of time-sensitive lifesaving medical supplies, a shift to testing the consumer market Matternet, a drone-delivery company based in Silicon Valley’s Menlo Park California, has recently joined forces with Daimler, as well as the government of Switzerland, to bring rolling distribution hubs for aerial package delivery. While the initial focus of the initiative was on the speedy delivery of time-sensitive lifesaving medical supplies, a shift to testing the consumer market has taken hold. Over 100 successful drone drop-offs to strategically placed vans in Zurich have shipped everyday items like ground coffee and cellphones. Mercedes Benz’s Vito is the first production vehicle in the world to be specifically designed as a mobile receiving station and land site for electric powered drones operating on a fully automated network.

Since 2015, Matternet and Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, have been exploring the use of vans as rolling distribution hubs for aerial package delivery. In March of 2017, Matternet was granted authorization to operate its drones over densely populated areas of Switzerland, an approval which was a world’s first. Not only have more than 100 drop-offs been successful, they were completed with a perfect safety record and more deliveries are planned for 2018. (Check out the full process on YouTube: How it Works)

Matternet’s investment in Switzerland has shown us that drone delivery is not only possible, it is happening right now. While the relative land area of Switzerland is small, its terrain poses numerous challenges, specifically the mountainous stretches which makes up 60% of the country's land area. By introducing the Vito variable to the drone-delivery equation, questions of distance and local control are addressed. As more tests are conducted and the safety record remains impeccable, this model would be something that Canadian regulators would do well to consider when crafting current legislation. This multi-lateral ongoing project will be closely scrutinized as 2018 progresses.

Canadian UAV Regulations: More Learning, Less Fear.

New recreational unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) rules were announced before the weekend by Canadian Transportation Minister Marc Garneau. Recreational users face hefty fines if they do not abide by certain rules, namely not flying within nine kilometers of an active airstrip. I’ve been asked by quite a few people about the new restrictions since they were released and my response has been that they have always been ‘the rules’ – however previously they had existed as ‘guidelines’ and no penalties could be handed down for breaking them. These ‘guidelines’ have always been front and center in every operation we carry out – also I’m not aware of any incidents where someone needed to be fined for negligent drone use but laws did not exist to penalize them.

I also take issue with the Transportation Minister’s statement from CBC.ca “I have read almost on a daily basis reports from pilots coming into airports, on the flight path, and reporting seeing a drone off the wing.” This is absolutely false. If there were this many UAV’s being spotted at Canadian airports, why have we not seen more investigations regarding them? Further, there have been zero reported cases of a UAV hitting an airplane – both in Canada and the United States. This statement breeds unnecessary fear which leads to hastily prepared, ill-thought regulations. Based upon this statement alone, I’m hesitant to discover further rules being handed down in June.

We need less fear from our politicians and more education. Current efforts to bring a minimum of learning to future UAV pilots before their first operation are crucial to tackling the problem. What kind of minimum education do you think pilots should have before their first flight?

A New Year a New Market

We here at Sky High Images have been ecstatic to provide high resolution aerial photography and video for the last two years to the Kitchener-Waterloo area, however we have recognized the market for aerial services is changing. Gone are the days of 'blanket applications' such as photography; Today unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have become 'silver bullet' solutions for niche markets such as construction and wind turbine blade inspection.

Our headquarters based in the province of Ontario, Canada is home to approximately 2302 wind turbines consisting of over 79 different installations. Their massive blades spinning at over 240kmph become battered by the elements and over time gradually wear out. In the early stages, deterioration causes reduced energy production which eventually leads to catastrophic blade collapse if left unnoticed. Until recently, repair technicians had to rappel with ropes off the side of the tower - some of which stand as high as 600ft. Not only is this work fatally dangerous with an absolute zero room for error, its ineffective as little information is known in advance and inefficient as it wastes a lot of resources. At just a fraction of the cost, Sky High Images can deploy its drone pilots to perform the job with fewer people, in a safer manner and with the towers turned off for far less time.

Sky High Images is attending the CanWEA Operations and Maintenance Summit from Tuesday, February 1st - 2nd 2017 to personally bring awareness about the benefits of UAS adoption in their maintenance planning. We look forward to meeting all those involved with this exciting industry to hear about their wind operations and how they can achieve six figure savings while spending a quarter of the time.

-Sky High Images

Canadian Drones Save Lives

While unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may not be a big part of your life right now, one day they just might save it.

In May 2013, the Saskatchewan RCMP reported the first life saved by a UAV in Canada. A man driving in near-freezing temperatures wearing only a t-shirt had flipped his car off the road in a remote, wooded area.  The man managed to call 911 but did not know where he was so only the last recorded location on his cell phone’s GPS was used. The police had originally deployed a regular, manned helicopter equipped with night vision to try and find him, but they weren't able to during an initial sweep of the area.

The RCMP eventually deployed their Draganflyer X4-E5 UAV which was equipped with an infrared camera. The UAV soon picked up three heat signatures 200 meters from the last known GPS location, where fire department members found the driver curled next to a tree.  According to the RCMP’s website that without the UAV, searchers would not have been able to locate the driver until daylight meaning he would have frozen to death before he could have been reached.

UAV’s are still in their genesis when it comes to bringing life-saving supplies to remote areas. Germany’s logistics company DHL will begin daily flights with their quad-rotor "DHL Paketkopter 2.0" to bring a maximum load of 1.2 kilograms of medicine to the sparsely populated German island of ‘Juist,’ located just off the nation’s northern coast. Flying up to 65kmph with the flight expected to take as long as 30 minutes, this is the first time an unmanned aircraft has been authorized to deliver goods in Europe. With medication, other urgently needed goods will also be transported, at times when other modes of transport such as flights or ferries are not operating.

The UAV Goes to School

Three quarters of a decade ago, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) invested millions into creating ‘neuromorphic chips’ – a type of computer chip that is designed to be as close as possible to a human brain in function, size and power consumption– in short, a ‘brain chip.’ With the project titled ‘SyNAPSE’ – Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scale Electronics – the ‘brain chip’ sounds like something you would find inside the research labs of Cyberdyne.

One of these ‘brain chips’ was tested inside a tiny unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which measured six inches square, 1.5 inches high, and weighed only 93 grams, including the battery.

The ‘brain chip’ works by having networks of silicon ‘neurons’ that communicate through jolts of electricity.  In the experiment, the UAV flew between three different rooms, where the ‘brain chip’ absorbed data from the aircraft’s optical, infrared and ultrasound sensors. Incoming sensor data from the room’s walls and furniture was created in the networks of silicon neurons and the UAV began to understand its surroundings. This caused a separate pattern of electrical activity in the neurons that the chip had never experienced before.” The connected neurons had begun to change, mimicking a crude version of learning like in a real brain. The UAV became ‘self-aware’ and started learning on its own, albeit in a very basic way.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to fundamentally change our civilization in ways we could not imagine. As AI takes to the skies, the public debate on the ethics of artificial intelligence will only increase.

Drones for Good in the Persian Gulf

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently held an international competition titled “The Drones for Good Award’ with the winner being awarded $1 million US dollars. Out of over 800 total contest entries which were whittled down to 39 semi-finalists, the winning design was the “Gimball” unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) created by the Swiss firm “Flyability.”

Made with rescue and industrial inspection needs in mind, this aircraft is equipped with a rotating carbon-fiber cage that absorbs impacts to keep it from crashing into obstacles as well as allows it to roll along the ground. Also due to its small size it can navigate collapsed buildings and toxic environments while still being able to safely fly close to humans. The company’s team lead Patrick Thevoz announced that with this new funding, they will be able to commercially develop their project within a year.

According the Minister of Cabinet Affairs in the UAE, “The UAE Drones for Good Award is a tangible outcome of the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to make optimal use of innovation and technology for the service of humanity.” We at Sky High Images applaud this commitment to setting global benchmarks and demonstrating how UAV’s can be used to benefit our daily lives. We encourage more governments and private organizations to promote similar innovative efforts that demonstrate UAV’s capacity to transform the world, make it a better place to live as well as to inspire new breakthroughs in this burgeoning field.