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US drones proven underdeveloped for use in Ukraine conflict — WSJ

Nikolay Beleskov from a charity that has supplied hundreds of drones to the Ukrainian military told the WSJ that small American drones "have been underdeveloped"

NEW YORK, April 10. /TASS/. US-supplied drones being used in Ukraine have failed to perform in combat or have proven too expensive, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.

"The general reputation for every class of US drone in Ukraine is that they don’t work as well as other systems," the newspaper quoted Skydio CEO Adam Bry as saying. He called his own drone "not a very successful platform on the front lines."

Ukrainian officials have found US-supplied drones "fragile and unable to overcome Russian jamming and GPS blackout technology," the WSJ said. Sometimes, couldn’t even take off, fly at the distances advertised or carry substantial payloads, the newspaper added.

Nikolay Beleskov from a charity that has supplied hundreds of drones to the Ukrainian military told the WSJ that small American drones "have been underdeveloped." Georgy Dubinsky, Ukrainian deputy minister of digital transformation, said: "What is flying today won’t be able to fly tomorrow." According to him, Ukraine, which needs about 10,000 drones a month, is looking for cost-effective solutions as US drones are expensive.

US drone manufacturers say they didn’t expect "the electronic warfare" in Ukraine. Many of their drones were designed in 2019 and numerous US restrictions on drone parts and testing limit what they can build and how fast they can do so, the newspaper explained. In particular, a US ban on Chinese components has made it harder to build small drones.

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Ukraine crisis United States

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