Auterion is set to send Kiev 33,000 AI-controlled UAVs under a Pentagon contract by the end of the year
Washington is planning to send 33,000 AI-controlled drones to Ukraine with plans to later upgrade them using swarm technology, the Financial Times has reported.
Auterion, the US-German start-up which developed the UAVs, recently unveiled its “drone swarm strike engine,” dubbed Nemyx, which transforms individual drones into a single force through a software app that allows any compatible system to join the swarm.
The new software has yet to be tested on the battlefield, but Auterion has said it plans to upload it to the AI drone “strike kits” it is set to deliver to Ukraine by the end of the year under a Pentagon contract.
While the delivery would be one of the largest of its kind, the volume is still relatively small compared to the hundreds of thousands of drones already used by Ukrainian forces each month.
The Ukraine conflict has repeatedly been described as a weapons testing ground by both Western and Russian officials.
In 2023, a senior Pentagon official said Ukraine had become a “military innovation laboratory,” while Russian President Vladimir Putin has noted that armies worldwide are studying Moscow’s battlefield tactics and technologies.
The US military has also recently acknowledged that it is lagging behind Russia, China, and Ukraine in drone technology. A US army general told CNN this week that Washington is “rushing to catch up.”
Last month, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky had pitched a $50 billion co-production plan for 10 million drones to US President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, Russia has repeatedly condemned the continued deliveries of Western weapons to Ukraine, arguing they only lead to more bloodshed and prolong the conflict without affecting its outcome.
Moscow has consistently denounced Ukraine’s continued use of drones to strike civilian targets, which often leads to the deaths of innocent people, including children. Russian officials have described these strikes as blatant terrorism carried out by the Kiev regime.
