Exactly two and a half years ago, Russia invaded Ukraine. The war since then has seen countless deaths, heavy loss of critical properties on both sides and Russia’s aggressive moves of capturing Ukrainian territories and causing devastations around.
However, Ukraine is fighting a tough fight against Russia to claim its freedom, peace, and security. Many European countries are extending financial, military, and humanitarian support to Ukraine. Kiel Institute for the World Economy is maintaining a database titled “Ukraine Support Tracker,” which lists and quantifies the support flows by Western governments to Ukraine since February 2022.
According to the database, currently, Lithuania is among the top supporters of Ukraine globally in terms of the share of GDP, with bilateral aid to Ukraine equalling 1.5% of GDP. Russia’s full-scale invasion has forced around 1.6 million Ukrainian schoolchildren out of education.
Ukraine has also faced unprecedented damage to critical infrastructures throughout the country, and yet they do not want to wait till the war ends to start rebuilding. Ukraine is rebuilding itself with the help of aid from partners and other nations. Since 2022, Lithuania has been helping Ukraine in its recovery not only by supporting some of the reconstruction projects but also with the latest technology, gadgets, and equipment while the nation is dealing with an ongoing war.
Granta Autonomy’s Drones on the Battlefield
“The traditional battlefield is evolving, and Western armies require robust, reliable, and flexible solutions. Granta Autonomy is committed to ensuring our systems can be readily manufactured across Europe, reducing reliance on external sources,” said Gediminas Guoba, founder and CEO, Granta Autonomy.
Former military engineer Gediminas Guoba founded Granta Autonomy in 2014. As a reconnaissance operator, he said he is in a much better position to understand what is needed for reconnaissance missions, in what environment, what should be chased, what kind of information should be collected, and how to work with the system on the battlefield.
“The Environment is not going to be friendly. Sometimes, it is difficult to navigate, especially at night, but you need to provide information to your team and do your mission. The environment will be harsh, so your system must work, no matter what,” he added.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Vilnius-based Granta Autonomy started supplying its UAVs to the Ukrainian front. Today, the Ukrainian army operates a battery of Granta Autonomy UAVs funded by the Lithuanian and other European defence ministries. The company also provides its technology to NATO forces across Europe.
“Our team of military drone operators and engineers built their expertise into this design. It offers the industry’s best flight time, simple operation, and rugged durability, increasing efficiency, lowering costs, and offering unmatched reliability in complex, multi-faceted missions,” he adds. “We collaborate directly with soldiers in combat zones, testing our products and software in real-world situations.
This ensures our solutions excel in the harshest conditions.” Gediminas said, “We are developing air defence systems to counter other drones. We are also working on FDV drones and other types of drones.”
With his firsthand experience testing Granta’s cutting-edge lightweight surveillance and reconnaissance UAVs, micro gimbals, and digital communications software on the front lines of the Ukraine war, Gediminas believes his team’s technology will revolutionize how armed forces conduct complex reconnaissance missions. He sees Granta’s technology as a potential game-changer for bolstering NATO’s defences against Russian aggression across Europe.
Usage of Drones in Modern Warfare
Drones have become indispensable assets for gathering intelligence, tracking the movements of vehicles, soldiers, and terrorists, monitoring border areas for aggressions, and staying updated with the enemy’s moves, especially in contested and complex environments.
Real-time intelligence is the need of the hour to plan the next move or take swift measures, and drones are doing just that right. “As engineers, we started thinking about what we could do to help improve our country’s defence. We have already seen that drones make a huge difference on the battlefield.
We call them force multipliers, and that’s where our drone work started. In the future, we see more and more autonomy for our drones,” added Gediminas. “Our primary target while working on the front lines with Ukrainian soldiers was to understand what is going on there from a technological perspective and to understand how to improve our technology going forward to improve resilience to enemies’ different weapons, like jamming, counter-jamming, and other things.”
Drones provide real-time updates, and the data they collect can be analysed for post-mission analysis.
The Battlefield Over the Years
Gediminas described how the battlefield has changed, particularly during the last two years: “During the beginning of the full invasion of Ukraine, we saw mostly standard weapons like rocket launchers or tanks being used, and we saw the constant movement of vehicles and people.
The longest queue from the Russian side was almost 60km.” “And now just 10 kilometres separates the frontlines on both sides, but there are no vehicles, and no one is moving during the day because anyone who does move gets attacked by FPV drones. So drones play an important role on the battlefield, becoming far more advanced in destroying vehicles and targeting enemies.”
Granta Autonomy’s technology allows frontline soldiers to work in a completely challenged environment from a frequencies and radio-based perspective. Because GNSS and GPS signals get jammed, spoofed, and manipulated, “we have developed our Data Link technology, which is completely resilient to all kinds of jamming,” added Gediminas.
“We have also developed a technology that allows us to fly 40 kilometres away from the operator for over three hours and collect their information without needing a GPS signal. Still, all the time, we know where we are and what we are looking at; we can provide all the precise coordinates.”
Lessons from the War
Going forward, fewer humans will walk the battlefield, and we will see more drones working there. Drones are changing the tactical landscape, and tasks will be done online rather than on the battlefield. Gediminas suggested that the armed forces must be trained to develop skills and learn how to operate drones in challenging environments.
They must also be equipped with different kinds of drones, like reconnaissance or kamikaze drones, and taught how to service and utilize them. Opening academies for drone operators will also help the armed forces’ teams learn how to use drones because that won’t happen in one day, in a week, or a month: It’s a systematic process.
