Opinion article/Ilona Bērziņa
No one has any doubts that drones play a major role in war now and will in the future. This is why local drone manufacturers should contribute. Are we at a sufficient “height of action” in this regard and can we be sure that the capabilities of Latvian drones are really being strengthened in every possible way and at all levels of the National Armed Forces?
Why is it so important to enhance national security with drones? Retired Admiral James Stavridis, who led NATO forces in Europe from 2009 to 2013, and Elliot Ackerman, a US marine veteran, told the Wall Street Journal: “Unmanned aircraft have suddenly become widespread on the battlefield, but we are only in the early stages of this new era of warfare. It wouldn’t be the first time that cheap technology and a new concept of warfare have come together to push out out expensive old-fashioned technologies.” British Defence Minister Grant Shapps has also pointed out that the Ukrainian armed forces, with much cheaper systems, are destroying and damaging thousands of units of Russian vehicles and equipment. All this suggests – drones are at the top in strengthening defence capabilities in the world.
Undoubtedly, the international drone coalition initiated by Latvia in support of Ukraine, which to date already includes 16 Member States, is most welcome. Latvia has ensured the delivery of 3 000 combat drones of various types to Ukraine since the foundation of the coalition. But no less important are the questions – how the defence sector has succeeded in creating an army of drones, which Minister of Defence Andris Sprūds talked about at the end of May this year, and to what extent the production of drones has been promoted right here at home. If we judge by public news, there is nothing to brag about. Of course, unless it is considered to be the fact that in a procurement tender organised by the United Kingdom for the Drone Coalition, among the 15 models purchased in test procurement procedure, two are manufactured in Latvia. A total of 256 applications were received in this competition. It should be noted that on the 20th of September, the British Ministry of Defence announced a second procurement for the Coalition of Drones. The goal the same – to help Ukraine. However, many of the industry players in Latvia are puzzled – if we position ourselves as the leader of this coalition, then why isn’t the Latvian Ministry of Defence the one organising this procurement procedure?
Sometimes a closer dialogue with the industry doesn’t work out
The Ministry of Defence explains that the national industry is being strengthened through procurement and drone testing. This way, both the financing is invested in the development of the Latvian military industry, as well as industry companies are able to technologically develop and adapt their products to the current situation in the world. “One of the defence sector’s national goals within the Coalition of Drones is also to build a closer dialogue between industry and industry, as well as to make our manufacturers and their innovations more visible and recognisable in international formats.”
Viesturs Silenieks, chairman of the board of the association “Drone Force – Europe”, does not really agree with this. For example, on the 9th of August, as part of the visit of the Minister of Defence Andris Sprūds to the United Kingdom a Latvian drone industry forum was organised in Britain. Many industry participants were not informed about this at all. According to Silenieks, industry representatives did not information on the possibility of participating in the forum on either Sargs.lv or on the ministry’s website. If there was one, the association would forward it to its members – the manufacturers.
“People have to understand that there is no company in Latvia and even in the world that manufactures 100% of all parts on its own – drone frames, propellers, motors, controllers, chips, electrical wires and even tin for soldering. All this is bought from many manufacturers. However, there are Latvian manufacturers or only technology developers who make only one part. For example, “Drone Force – Europe” is a member who has developed and is ready to produce a drone controller (a chip that is the main brain of a drone). There are programmers who develop programs for drones. There are those who make only frames. There are those who assemble drones and have been sending to Ukraine for some time directly to various units without the involvement of the ministry, because the ministry is simply not ready to respond. They would be willing to start production if there was a customer, but the ministry does not give contacts to the entrepreneurs who produce drones as part of the Coalition of Drones.”
I would rather not believe it, but it is the words of Viesturs Silenieks that the Ministry of Defence has not responded to the letter received in February (!), which asked whether or not the ministry is ready to enter into a cooperation agreement with the association. “Thus, it can be considered that the ministry is not interested in more entrepreneurs, more developers of drone technologies being informed and being able to produce something,” said the association’s chairman.
“Public organizations are not created to fight against public administration, but to improve what is happening in the country, cooperating and coming to the rescue, recommending, helping. And this is what people are ready to do in their free time for free. However, if support is not needed, they themselves know everything, they are able to cope on their own, then there is also no need to listen to other opinions,” stresses Viesturs Silenieks.
Drones worth thousands can be lost because of a hundred euros
In the manufacture of drones for military needs, a sufficient number of factors should be taken into account. They are tested initially here in Latvia, and then again in Ukraine. As Viesturs Silenieks explains, in the first round of such competitions, drones are selected that are able to meet technical requirements – basically it is the flying distance and payload capabilities. Those that meet these requirements are sent to Ukraine to be tested in the conditions of electronic warfare (EW) and only the ones have passed this test are given the green light to go into production.
In turn, there are other problems with drones for the needs of the armed forces themselves. As it happens, “the devil is in the details”. If at the moment the number of drones is, if not quite enough, then at least much less acceptable, then such elementary things as drone batteries are forgotten. “For a drone, one battery counts as combat-capable up to 50 charges. From 50 to 80 charges, the drone is suitable only for performing training tasks. What happens next, no one can guarantee – during the flight, the drone battery can simply inflate and the drone will fall,” explains Viesturs Silenieks.
According to him, a drone battery costs on average EUR 100 – EUR 250. In turn, a very good training drone costs about EUR 5 000. “If we look at the algorithm that a combat-capable drone has 50 charging cycles, it means that one charge will cost EUR 5. What is more important, to allow a drone worth five thousand euros to fall to the ground just because it does not have the appropriate battery, or to spend 10 million on infrastructure?”
In turn, in order for drones to be relevant even after a year, two, four, they need to be constantly improved. The manufacturer alone without a link to the NBS cannot do this. Therefore, the Center for Defence Technology and Innovation was created at the National Defence Academy to create a base where merchants can come along with the NBS to test, experiment and come to some kind of common denominator.
Money doesn’t come from nowhere
Another key point is funding. The long-term development plan of the Latvian NBS in 2025 in 2028 envisages spending EUR 80 million “on the introduction of the latest generation of unmanned aerial vehicle systems of various applications in the armament of the NBS.” This year, EUR 20 million will be invested in the development of drone capabilities, half of which will go to infrastructure, and about EUR 10 million will be available to entrepreneurs in the procurement of drones. When asked to comment on whether the EUR 10 million, which seems like a considerable amount to the ordinary citizen, is a lot or little for drone purchases, a military expert who asked to remain anonymous because he “has yet to work in this area” says that wars cannot be fought with drones alone and should be viewed as part of the overall weapons system. “That calculation, which manufacturers also look at in the west, that the cost of a drone should be cheaper than launching a single artillery projectile. Then the drone pays off. Of course, throwing grenades with drones is psychologically better, but perhaps it is more profitable to invest their money in indirect fire support. It cannot be assumed that now drones will solve everything.”
If ten million are to be used for infrastructure development, the question is what exactly is meant by it.
Viesturs Silenieks concedes that the infrastructure is meant to be a drone training and testing ground in Sēlija. After once this testing ground was opened, Defence Minister Andris Sprūds patted himself on the shoulder, declaring that the drone test site will serve as a new facet in the development of the Coalition of Drones. However, Silenieks is sceptical about this statement.
“In essence – what is a drone for? If this is a reconnaissance drone, then it needs one condition, which is both urban environments and fields, forests and the like. Because you can only train in an environment as close as possible to real conditions. I doubt they’ll build a city for drones in Sēlija, and nothing can be built for that kind of money either. In turn, one veneer tank is enough to test kamikaze drones. Lift the drone into the air and crash it into something, armed with a brick imitating the weight of explosives. But it does not need EUR 10 million, it can be done anywhere in Latvia! As for electronic warfare, you need an area where you don’t affect planes with these anti-drone devices and the internet doesn’t disappear in private homes, so it should be deep in the woods. What needs to be built there? Nothing! Take the equipment and test it there. If the equipment is counted among the infrastructure, fine. But putting on one container to drink tea or take shelter from the rain doesn’t cost ten million,” says Viesturs Silenieks.
He points out that a training track could be built for so-called “kamikaze drones”, but one such track already exists for training young people in Ādaži. “Such a track can be assembled from wooden boards in a day. You can equip it with all sorts of sensors and computers, but even then it will not cost so much. Of course, if we want to make something unique and where foreigners would want to go to train, those ten million could be “drawn”, but if people just need to train and test drones, we don’t need anything like that,” Silenieks concluded.
Defence Minister Sprūds stressed that one of his priorities as minister is to develop Latvia’s defence and military industry. For now, it looks like, at least in terms of building an Army of Drones, it’s not going too good.