The American military began using the Ukrainian Sky Map program

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In recent weeks, the U.S. military has deployed Ukrainian counter-drone technology to a key U.S. air base in Saudi Arabia, in a bid to protect against attacks that have already destroyed planes, buildings and killed at least one U.S. service member.

The deployment of a Ukrainian command-and-control system called Sky Map at Prince Sultan Air Base is a sign of how far the Ukrainian military has come in developing drones and counter-drone capabilities.

Ukrainian military experts have been at the base in recent weeks to train U.S. service members on Sky Map, which the Ukrainian military uses to detect approaching drones, including the Shahed, and to launch counter-attacks using interceptor drones.

The Pentagon has already significantly increased its investment in counter-drone technology. But the use of Ukrainian technology highlights the vulnerability of U.S. air and missile defenses, analysts say. 

❗️ This news comes a month after Trump publicly rejected the Ukrainian president’s offer to help combat Iranian drone strikes.

💬 We don’t need their [Ukrainian] help in countering drones, Trump told Fox News on March 6.

ℹ️ Sky Map is the main command and control platform in the Ukrainian army. It is a software complex in the form of a dashboard with maps and video streams that collects data from radars and sensors to detect threats.

The company that developed Sky Map was founded in 2022. They have deployed more than 10,000 acoustic sensors across Ukraine to detect Russian drone attacks.

Sky Map is one of a number of new counter-drone technologies deployed at the Prince Sultan base. Among others are Merops interceptors, developed by the American company Project Eagle (the company of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt). 

 According to the interlocutors, difficulties arose during the first tests of Merops. In early April, during a test at the Prince Sultan base, a Merops interceptor drone lost control and crashed into a toilet block.

ℹ️ In the first weeks after the war began, the Prince Sultan base was subjected to several waves of drone and missile attacks. During one of the strikes, an E-3 AWACS radar detection aircraft was destroyed, and several KC-135 tankers were damaged. In one case, a tent was destroyed that housed a radar system to support the THAAD missile defense system.