Ukraine and NATO are joining forces to strengthen counteraction to fiber-optic FPV drones, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
"The NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training and Education Center (JATEC) in cooperation with NATO's Allied Command Transformation (ACT) announces the holding of the next NATO Innovation Challenge," the department said in a statement.
The hackathon will take place on June 20 in Tallinn, Estonia. The defense industry of NATO member states and Ukraine is invited to participate. The deadline for submitting applications is May 30.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the key areas for development are: detection and prioritization systems (radar, optical, acoustic, thermal, hybrid), fast and accurate tracking of small high-speed targets, kinetic and non-kinetic attack systems (including directed energy, grids, smart munitions).
"Only applications from organizations headquartered in NATO member states will be considered at the pre-selection stage. Team representatives must have the citizenship of a NATO member state. However, organizations from Ukraine are invited to participate, and their applications may be considered for integration into later stages of the competition process," the message says.
The organizers are calling for concepts, systems, and integrated architectures for the detection, guidance, tracking, and neutralization of fiber-optic FPV drones. The proposed solutions must meet the following criteria:
· detect drones at a distance of 500 m;
· work day, night and in difficult weather conditions;
· be light, weighing up to 100 kg;
· be cost-effective (cost up to $ 100 thousand).
The announcement of the finalists of the competition will take place on June 5, and the presentation of the selected technological solutions will be held on June 20 in Tallinn (Estonia).
It was previously reported that Ukrainian 25 and 30 km coils for fiber optic FPV drones from 3DTech have successfully passed internal tests and have been launched into mass production.