There has never been so much talk about drones in Ukraine as this year. Social media is flooded with fees for bayactors, charter planes, and even basic quadcopters.
Against the background of the war, Ukrainians are exploring the saturated global market for drones. Our engineers also marked it with technological “birds”. One of them is SKIF. Having military roots, this UAV has been solving peaceful business tasks for several years now.
In a partner article with Culver Aviation , we talk about the history of the aircraft, which stretches back to 2014.
Ukrainian bird
SKIF is a Ukrainian mono-wing drone developed and manufactured by Culver Aviation. He works on commercial tasks: measuring fields, monitoring crops or extended objects such as pipelines.
In peacetime , the Scythian fleet flies over tens of thousands of hectares to help farmers, environmentalists and rescuers make decisions. The Skiff ‘s predecessor also surveyed the fields. But he did not inspect roads and farmlands, but hostile positions.
Patriotic beginning
In February 2014, a friend of his came to the office of Alexander Danilenko, the future CEO of Culver Aviation. Maidan only won, “little green men” appeared in Crimea, Donbass was shaken by pro-Russian protests. The country was changing before our eyes.
“We talked about events and new projects. And then a friend told me about his hobby – aeromodelling. He boasted that he was able to assemble an “airplane” that flies along the coordinates and transmits a video stream. He wanted to support the army. I became interested, ”recalls Danilenko.
At that time, Alexander was running a small system integration business. A graduate of radio engineering, from childhood he loved to design, was fond of robotics. Together with a friend, Danilenko went to the field to test a homemade drone. “ And so it began, ” he says.
Soon, with the beginning of the hybrid Russian aggression in the Donbas, friends created a volunteer group EyeTech in Kyiv. Alexander Danilenko and his colleagues focused on creating a reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle for the front.
The group collected the first copies in the garage with their own savings.
“They were different models. We bought Chinese foam planes and cut and glued them. Everyone did it then. Each time it turned out better, and in the end, the live experience paid off all the costs,” says Danilenko.
So colleagues filled their hands. For aircraft, ground control stations with antennas were produced.
Drones were tested in the fields around the capital, and also taken to military training grounds. In addition to EyeTech, there were dozens of Ukrainian developments in the first wave. But it was the Patriot UAV that made it into the top five for controlled operation by the Ministry of Defense – this is how the volunteer group called its model.
Here is a detailed list of exactly what tasks Culver Aviation drones take on.
Serious flights
In December 2014, the group became an ITEC R&D enterprise. She began to take part in major exhibitions, which were visited by the first persons of the state. In an interview , then-president Poroshenko recalls Patriot. At the same time, ITEC made aerial reconnaissance systems by order of volunteers and continued to improve the devices.
In 2015, the company began to fully design the carrier. A specialist in aerodynamics who fought in the ATO helped with this. He currently designs aircraft at Culver Aviation. And having collected thanks and feedback from the front , the team worked out the necessary functionality: they installed a high-precision camera, a thermal imager, a battery that provides up to two hours of autonomous flight.
Since 2016, it has become possible to produce composite cases with Kevlar, fiberglass, carbon fiber. Aerodynamics calculated on a computer became easy to reproduce in the physical world.
“In 2014-2016, we managed to make several complexes for aerial reconnaissance for the military. Since then, I have kept diplomas, thanks and the Ukrainian flag signed by the fighters,” says Oleksandr Danilenko.
More information about Culver Aviation here .
From the front to the fields
In mid-2016, the team began looking for ways to monetize. Volunteer orders were enough for support, but not for development. And the signing of the contract with the Ministry of Defense was prevented by the bureaucracy on the part of the state. The company decided to change the direction of the product.
At that time, business and government institutions had already formed a demand for land surveying and data processing. The Patriot drone was adapted for them: they left the same body, engine, battery, removed the thermal imager and video camera. This is how SKIF appeared – a civilian version of the military “bird”.
The task of SKIF is fast aerial photography of the earth’s surface with accurate reference to coordinates.
Among its features:
- the image quality is atypical for an aircraft of this size: with a 60 megapixel camera, which gives an accuracy of up to 1 cm per pixel in the plan, you can see individual leaves of crops and stones on the road;
- Dual-frequency GNSS – a navigation system from a company with which Culver Aviation has an exclusive manufacturing contract, thanks to which the digital map has high position accuracy;
- service life – on a single charge, SKIF can fly over an area of 3000-3500 hectares or take off 60 km in length and return.
The top client in Ukraine is the agricultural sector, which needs to constantly monitor changes in the fields.
“ Before the season, agrarians must get the exact contours of the plots in order to calculate the sowing budget and not leave unprocessed pieces. And then monitor crops in order to prevent plant diseases in time and not slow down the harvest,” explains Alexander Danilenko.
Initially, the company sold aircraft and trained employees of agricultural holdings to manage them and process data. This burdened clients with unnecessary work. After some time, the business model was changed to Drone-as-a-Service. The team clarifies the tasks, travels to the shooting site, performs geodetic and flight work, processes the data and produces a result that can be used in business solutions.
It’s not just about harvests. From the air, you can track the state of forest resources, assess the consequences of natural disasters, the condition of roads, pipelines, and high-rise buildings. For example, now the “Scythians” are involved in assessing the destruction as a result of the Russian invasion.
New stage
In 2021, ITEC entered the TECHIIA holding and changed its name to Culver Aviation . The team has grown to several dozen people. The SKIF unmanned complex has received serial production: design of the fuselage and electronics, manufacturing of cases and boards, assembly, programming. In addition to services, the company is developing an innovation that will be presented at the leading international exhibition for commercial UAVs in September.
Culver Aviation reacted quickly to the Russian invasion. Most of the pilot team from the first days left to defend the country in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The production was moved to the west of the country, the pace of manufacturing Scythians for the provision of services was maintained. For social support, a free school for drone operators was opened, which has already taught 70 people.
Work continues. “We are waiting for the government’s permission to resume commercial flights – these are economic and food security issues. We are also preparing the release of a new product that will change the idea of what drone services are,” says Alexander Danilenko.
For drones and experienced operators, please contact Culver Aviation at .
