Small reconnaissance drones are produced in the capital of Latvia, Riga, by Atlas Aerospace.. DW journalists Killian Bayer and Natalya Pozdnyakova visited the plant. They noted the sterile cleanliness, and among the workers there are many refugees from Ukraine, who most recently were accountants or teachers in kindergartens.
" Today we are trying to bring the number of UAVs produced per month to 700, but this is not enough, ”says Ivan Tolchinsky, founder and director of the company..
He plans to open another workshop to meet the increased demand..
Ivan Tolchinsky is 36 years old. Born in Ukraine, lived in Israel. Veteran of military operations, participated in the armed conflict in Lebanon, served in the ranks of the special forces of the Israeli army. Then he studied aviation engineering at the university. I opened a company in Latvia almost by accident - it's just more expensive to produce drones in Israel.
Atlas Aerospace makes compact drones that can fit in a backpack. Drones comply with NATO standard. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, almost all Atlas Aerospace drones are supplied to the Ukrainian army.
“Drones are a revolution at the tactical level,” explains Ivan Tolchinsky, head of Atlas Aerospace.. - Soldiers on the battlefield can independently conduct reconnaissance. If a group of soldiers, for example, wants to cross the street during a street fight, they can use a drone to investigate in advance where the enemy is..
Conventional non-combat drones have a significant drawback - they operate in a constant frequency range, which is easy to drown out.. Drones from Atlas Aerospace change frequencies to avoid this. Therefore, they are more appreciated by the Ukrainian military..
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The value of the Atlases is also in the fact that a small team of four people can use them to reconnoiter large areas. Real-time video frames are transmitted to the main headquarters. If 12 such units simultaneously transmit information from the entire front line, then the command has a complete picture of what is happening. The thermal imagers that these drones are equipped with allow night shooting.
More than 100 Latvian UAVs have already been received by the Armed Forces of Ukraine thanks to the Come Back Alive Foundation.