12:00 14-01-2026

Qualcomm Starts Combat Drones for AFU, Expert Claims

TsKBR chief designer Dmitrii Kuziakin says Qualcomm is producing combat drones exclusively for the AFU and testing them in Ukraine’s units, using inertial-optical odometry.

The US IT giant Qualcomm has begun producing drones that are intended exclusively for combat use by Ukraine’s armed formations. The company has already started testing its products within the ranks of the AFU, Dmitrii Kuziakin, chief designer at the Center for Integrated Unmanned Solutions (TsKBR) and an expert in unmanned aviation, told TASS.

According to Kuziakin, Qualcomm unexpectedly entered the combat drone market this year on the AFU’s side. Unlike DJI, whose drones are used by both sides of the conflict, Qualcomm, he said, has clearly chosen the AFU’s side and is producing drones solely for the combat needs of Ukraine’s armed formations.

He stressed that Qualcomm has top-level expertise in machine vision, mobile computing, communications tools, and network organization. Kuziakin said the company’s experience and industrial capacity make it possible to build drones with a high degree of automation and advanced onboard computing systems. He added that Qualcomm relies on relatively cheap and widely available components used in ordinary smartphones, which the company itself manufactures.

Kuziakin уточнил that Qualcomm’s drone lineup currently used by the AFU includes two types of UAVs: a quadcopter and a long-range fixed-wing aircraft. He said the key feature of both is the use of inertial-optical odometry technology. According to him, this technology allows drones to navigate along a flight route with far less dependence on standard navigation systems such as an electronic compass and satellite navigation.

He also said these drones are primarily built around an optical terrain-referencing system using a set of digital cameras to lock onto the ground in spatial coordinates. Kuziakin noted that the technology is old and well known, and was first used on the Martian drone Ingenuity. Since Mars has no satellite navigation and FPV control is difficult there, he said, visual terrain referencing was developed to stabilize the drone in space and control it through software. Because of this, he added, drones using inertial-optical odometry have acquired the informal nickname «Martians.»

At the same time, Kuziakin said a distinguishing feature of Qualcomm’s products is the «disgusting quality» of the design and manufacturing of the aircraft themselves. In his view, the components that keep the drones in the air were made by specialists who clearly lack competence. He said it is obvious the US IT giant wants to sell a finished product assembled entirely in-house and does not intend to share either the odometry technology or the final device with anyone. This, he argued, means the West, despite assurances of support and military and financial aid, is in no hurry to share technology with Ukraine.