Today, the German drone manufacturer Quantum Systems handed over 28 Trinity mapping UAVs to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. This was announced by both Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine on their social media channels.
The handover is part of a larger donation of 100 Trinity UAVs of different versions, which was arranged back in September 2023 during a meeting between founding CEO of Quantum Systems Florian Seibel and Kyiv’s Major Vitali Klitschko at the Stern Stewart Institute Summit.
According to Klitschko, the plan is to hand over ten additional Trinity drones every two weeks until the planned donation of 100 drones is completed, which according to the plan should be achieved in November 2024.
The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine will for sure use the donated drones, including the necessary equipment, primarily for battle damage assessment.
This means that they are used for the precise mapping of damage to infrastructure, buildings, roads, or bridges after, for example, Russian attacks on the border region.
As already mentioned, a mix of different variants of the Trinity UAV will be delivered. The images published today show the “Tactical” variant.
Besides battle damage assessment, also thanks to its 2.2 GHz and AES encrypted data link, it could be used, for example, to provide special operations forces operating in enemy territory or isolated areas with real-time imagery since they can’t wait for rear echelon sources.
Thanks to the modular system, the Trinity is airborne within a few minutes and performs automated tactical mapping and terrain visualisation missions. In just one flight, a single drone could cover an area of 700 hectares or a linear corridor of 90 kilometres in length.
The first Ukrainian soldiers completed their train-the-trainer training at Quantum Systems back in January. However, legal reasons delayed the handover to Ukraine, as this was a donation by the company, not a contract via the German government as usual.
For a long time, they were looking for a suitable foundation or charity that could carry out the handover to Ukraine, as most of them were unable to transfer dual-use items or armaments to Ukraine. They finally found one with the WeAreAllUkrainians gGmbH.
Despite the train-the-trainer training, the German defence startup will continue to work intensively on training Ukrainian soldiers to enable them to effectively deploy these eVTOL fixed-wing mapping drones.
In addition to the donation of 100 Trinity drones, Quantum Systems has been heavily involved in the defence of Ukraine since the beginning of 2022.
As an example, their Vector UAV — a high-quality eVTOL surveillance drone — was successfully used during the battle of the Siverskyi Donets in May 2022. The battle lasted over a week and resulted in a Ukrainian victory, with Russian troops suffering immense losses.
Alone on behalf of the German government, the German defence startup has already delivered 262 Vector UAVs to Ukraine, with more than 200 additional drones currently scheduled to be delivered in the future.
However, there is great interest in further deliveries to Ukraine. A request has already been made for the delivery of 800 additional drones in the coming year. The Vector thus forms the backbone of German drone deliveries to Ukraine.
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