NICOSIA, Cyprus -- There’s a chance the dreaded buzz of propellers heard on Ukrainian battlefields is coming from drones built in a country with a population of just over a million on Europe’s southeastern fringe: Cyprus.Manufacturer Swarmly says there are more than 200 of its H-10 Poseidon drones helping Ukrainian artillery batteries pinpoint enemy targets on the ground in all kinds of weather, racking up more than 100,000 hours in the air over the last three years.Its 5,000-square-meter (54,000-square-foot) factory, where the whir of grinders shaping composite plastics reverberates off the walls, has become a major source of uncrewed vehicles shipped to countries such as Indonesia, Benin, Nigeria, India and Saudi Arabia, according to company officials.
Most of the factory floor is reserved for uncrewed aerial vehicle manufacture.But tucked in a secure storage area is a selection of Swarmly's super-fast marine drones replete with high-definition cameras and .50-caliber machine guns.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has driven even the smallest European Union member countries to develop their home-grown, high-tech defense industries, just as necessity has made Kyiv a world leader in cutting-edge UAV technology.Many EU countries have partnered with Kyiv to develop that technology, and Ukraine’s front lines are usually their testing grounds.
Like Cyprus, the Baltic countries and Denmark have revved up their domestic drone and counter-drone technology.In Greece, drones are part of a 25-billion euro ($29-billion) overhaul of its armed forces.
“The example of Swarmy, as well as other important companies based in small EU countries, is a testament to the serious effort made by the private sector in Europe to innovate and build mass production capacity of defense items, including uncrewed systems,” said Federico Borsari, an expert with the Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis.UAVs are reshaping warfare by offering less militarily capable countries...