The American-German company Auterion will provide Ukraine with 33,000 artificial intelligence kits for drones under a new contract with the Pentagon worth about $50 million. Delivery is expected by the end of this year, as the company's CEO Lorenz Mayer told the Financial Times.
He noted that the scale of deliveries has increased tenfold compared to previous volumes. Previously, the company had already sent thousands of such systems to Ukraine, but now we are talking about tens of thousands of units.
The kits, called “Strike Kits,” include a miniature Skynode computer, a camera, and a radio module. They transform a conventional drone into an artificial intelligence platform capable of autonomously tracking moving objects at distances of up to one kilometer, operating without loss of communication in difficult electronic warfare conditions, and coordinating actions within a swarm.
Auterion software is already used in combat drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but the company emphasizes that it does not compete with Ukrainian developers, but provides solutions that are not yet available in Ukraine.
The contract is part of the American military assistance program, but is not part of a separate bilateral "mega-deal" for joint drone production, which President Zelensky recently announced.
Auterion estimates that integrating their software will allow for a network of AI-powered drones that coordinate in real time and operate more efficiently, while still allowing human control over target selection.
By the way, it was previously reported that Ukrainian and Danish companies announced a strategic partnership to work together on a low-cost drone interceptor based on artificial intelligence.