Ukraine and NATO to hold competition to find solution to combat FPV drones on fibre optics

The NATO Innovation Challenge hackathon to be held in Tallinn on 20 June will focus on developing solutions to counter FPV drones that are resistant to electronic warfare.

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The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine announced the start of the new stage of the competition. The event is organised by the NATO-Ukraine Joint Centre JATEC in cooperation with NATO's Allied Command Transformation (ACT).

The topic of this year's hackathon will be countering one of the most dangerous modern threats - FPV drones using a fibre-optic control channel. Such drones are virtually immune to electronic warfare jamming and are already widely used in combat operations.

The organisers are calling on participants to propose technologies for detecting, targeting and defeating such drones. Solutions using radar, optical, thermal, acoustic or hybrid systems capable of detecting targets at a distance of 500 metres, operating at night and in difficult weather, weighing no more than 100 kg and costing up to $100,000 are accepted for consideration. Developments can include both kinetic and non-kinetic means of destruction, such as nets or directed energy systems.

Only organisations from NATO countries are allowed to participate, but Ukrainian companies may be involved in later stages of the competition. The winners will have a chance to present their solutions to NATO experts and integrate them into the Alliance's defence system.

Source: Ministry of Defence of Ukraine