Dan Magy’s Post

Unbelievable footage coming out of Ukraine. 3 guys on an atv see and try and take down an fpv drone. They’re not successful in knocking it out, and the drone just misses a direct hit. Nothing is safe. #dronewars

The entire Firestorm team is proud to be featured in the SVDG100 this year. Making the list for the first time as a 2 yr old company is a testament to the hard work the entire company has put in over the past year to bring critical technologies to the warfighter 💪🏽 The folks at SVDG do an incredible job putting together an overview of the US Defense ecosystem. Here are a few highlights: - California keeps leading the way in innovation with over half of the countries companies (54) - SoCal in particular has gone from 13 companies to 21 on the list in the last year - $9B of VC money poured into the space in the last year - Of the 219 SBIR awards to the NATSEC100 cohort, 83 were Phase III awards, 69 were Phase II and 67 were Phase I - Of the cohorts’ 27 STTR awards, 10 were Phase III, 8 were Phase II and 9 were Phase I - A key policy recommendation was to increase federal funding for emerging tech companies and making sure it is spent in diverse way Find more data below 👇

The level of precision we see in these FPV flights is pretty incredible. #dronewars

The war in Ukraine is taking the ‘mobile home’ to a new level. In the latest example of how to stay camouflaged on the battlefield, we bring you a vehicle in a house. This seems like the natural evolution from the Turtle tank. 🐢 ➡️ 🏠 As surveillance drones and satellites become ever present, each side is constantly looking for an advantage to safely move around and avoid artillery or drone strikes. The precision and prevalence of these attacks is forcing changes and experimentation at an astounding rate, thus the ‘mobile home.’ What do you think the next iteration of this looks like? #dronewars

The use of drones at night in Ukraine is no longer limited to exquisite systems. The uptick in cheap and effective cameras that empower night time activities is fundamentally changing what it’s like to fight in this conflict. In the last couple of months we’ve seen new products hit the market offering cost effective, good quality cameras that are making their way in mass to the battlefield. Adding a $100-150 camera that is ‘good enough’ to an fpv means that the an entirely new chapter of the conflict is upon us where nothing is safe at night. The next evolution will be to addition of longer range/effective terminal guidance to night time attack vehicles. #dronewars

How is a 1970's Soviet air defense system finding new success against Russia's modern drone fleet in Ukraine? In the past few weeks we've seen a surge of videos showing Strela-10's (SA-13 Gopher) intercepting Russian surveillance drones. The Strela-10 was originally built in the 1970's with the intention to be a mainstay in the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact air defense network. It's job was to knock out low flying aircraft like helicopters and ground-attack jets. For the first few years of the war the system had a hard time engaging modern drones. That is until two months ago when 9 Valli electro-optical sights were donated by the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation and installed on the vehicles. Since then we have seen a score of videos of the system successfully detecting tracking and engaging Russian drones. As the war in Ukraine continues its path towards a war of attrition, look for more examples of old technology being repurposed with modern sensors to make it relevant for the current fight. We would do well to take these lessons and develop more modular defense platforms to allow for easy modifications as technology improves. #dronewars

Ukranian Strela 10M2 doing some CUAS work by taking out a ZALA surveillance drone. #dronewars

Footage of a number of Russian AA systems being destroyed by UKR SBU using a variety of FPV and Fixedwing systems is a significant development in the ongoing conflict. This is a big deal for 3 reasons: - There are finite numbers of these systems, and they are expensive and time-consuming to build. Losing them creates gaps in Russia’s ability to detect and attack everything in the air. - Training crew to be proficient on these types of systems takes time. Less competent crew means less effectiveness from the solutions that do exist. - This is Tier 1 level of kit, heavily protected, and thus the strategies developed to identify and attack it are good. The best tactics quickly proliferate across the forces, meaning effectiveness will continue to improve across UKR forces. #dronewars

Was a HIMARS strike successful in knocking out a $100m Russian radar? Footage released earlier this week shows a Shark UAS flying 70km behind enemy lines and finding a NEBO-SVU radar system. It then coordinates a HIMARS strike on the deployed system. So why is this a big deal? First, large surveillance and air defense radars are a key component to the air defense architecture for Russia. In modern warfare, this kind of radar is often the first to warn of approaching air threats. Second, the price to build a system reaches from the high tens of millions of dollars to a widely reported $100m. Furthermore, the technological complexity required for production combined with the state of the Russian military-industrial complex (especially given embargo on Western electronic components) means the replacement cost is far greater than just a number. #dronewars

Footage of a Russian supply train being attacked by a drone has been released. This continues to trend of attacks on infrastructure that allow Russia to sustain the fight in Ukraine. #dronewars