Ukrainian veterans are helping build the future of drones in Czechia
On a former Soviet military base in Central Bohemia, drones now replace tanks as Ukrainian veterans help test and develop the next generation of unmanned aircraft. Their battlefield experience has become one of the Czech defence industry's greatest assets, helping shape products now supplied not only to Ukraine but increasingly to NATO countries.
The unmistakable buzz of drones has replaced the roar of tanks at the former Soviet military base in Milovice, northeast of Prague. Today, the sprawling military training area serves as a testing ground where drones take to the skies and operators learn to fly them before they are deployed elsewhere. The activity reflects one of the fastest-growing sectors of Europe's defence industry, driven in large part by lessons learned on the battlefields of Ukraine.
While the flight testing takes place in Milovice, the people behind it work from elsewhere. Among them is Prague-based company U&C, a Czech drone manufacturer whose products are increasingly finding customers not only in Ukraine but also among NATO allies. Behind the technology stand engineers, technicians and veterans whose practical experience is helping redefine how drones are designed and used.
Bringing Ukrainian experience to Europe
U&C was established only a few years ago, but its ambitions reach well beyond the Czech market. According to production director and retired Czech Army brigadier general Pavel Bulant, the company was founded with a clear objective: to bring Ukrainian know-how to Europe.
"U&C is one of the fast-growing companies producing drones in Europe. Our production has tripled within a few years. Our portfolio ranges from reconnaissance drones through loitering ammunition – so-called kamikaze drones – up to interceptor drones. Our main goal from the very beginning was to open a gate into Europe and introduce Ukrainian experience to Western Europe and help improve drone technology."
The founders deliberately chose Czechia as the company's European base after studying a number of possible locations.
"It was the outcome of long-lasting research," Bulant explains. "Czechia is well known for its favourable conditions for business, its highly prepared labour force and a friendly environment for establishing new companies."
Lessons learned on the battlefield
According to Bulant, no laboratory or research centre can replace the experience gained in combat.
"We have a bunch of people with experience from the current conflict in Ukraine. They are quintessential for the development of drones because they bring fresh experience not only from the technology and the use of drones, but also from tactics. When I left the army thirteen years ago, drones were basically flying cameras. During the last four years, their importance has increased enormously. Those people are an important source of knowledge, and we can adopt their experience into tactics."
Bulant believes the war has fundamentally transformed the role of drones in modern warfare. Ukraine, he says, has become the world's most advanced laboratory for unmanned systems.
"Drones are everywhere. We can hardly imagine a situation on today's battlefield without them. They provide a permanent online picture of the situation, and there are so many drones searching for targets that, in many places, we are essentially watching a battle of drones on both sides."
He argues that the changes extend beyond technology itself. Military commanders have had to rethink the way they fight, increasingly relying on relatively inexpensive unmanned aircraft to compensate for dwindling manpower and to counter the constant threat posed by the enemy.
A new life after the invasion
Among the people applying those lessons every day is Inna, a Ukrainian who arrived in the Czech Republic after working with drones during the war. Her career before Russia's full-scale invasion could hardly have been more different.
"Before the war I had been working as a private notary for fourteen years. I was also a mediator, a university lecturer and a translator. I wasn't connected to the military at all. But after the full-scale invasion started, I felt I was doing nothing for Ukraine's victory. I wanted to find something where my skills could be used in a different way to help bring victory closer. That's how I became a drone operator, and that's why I'm now here in the Czech Republic, basically doing the same work I used to do in Ukraine."
Today, Inna's work ranges from testing new aircraft and training operators to helping certify equipment to NATO standards. Every drone must pass a series of checks before it leaves the factory and takes to the skies. Although drones have become increasingly sophisticated, she insists that learning to operate them is less intimidating than many people imagine.
"When somebody sees a UAV for the first time, you have to explain everything – not only how to operate it, but also weather conditions, aerodynamics and many technical details. Training includes both theory and practice, and usually lasts about a month. Actually, it's not so complicated to learn how to operate a UAV, even if you have no previous technical experience."
For Inna, however, her work is about more than technology. After witnessing Ukraine's struggle during the first months of the full-scale invasion, she hopes Europeans will understand that security can never be taken for granted. The experience she and many of her colleagues brought from Ukraine is now helping shape not only new drones, but also Europe's changing understanding of modern warfare.
