Eric Schmidt’s Swift Beat to produce hundreds of thousands of anti-Shahed drones for Ukraine

A memorandum was signed in Denmark between Ukraine and Swift Beat CEO Eric Schmidt on scaling up the production of unmanned systems for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This was announced by the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov.

The document states that hundreds of thousands of drones are planned for production in 2025, with further increases expected in 2026. A significant share will consist of interceptor drones designed to counter “Shaheds.” According to Defender Media’s sources within military units, interceptors developed by Swift Beat are currently the most effective at downing Russian-Iranian kamikaze drones.

Eric Schmidt is the former CEO of Google and a backer of the venture fund D3, half of whose portfolio consists of Ukrainian defence startups. According to The Washington Post, Schmidt has invested $10 million in D3.

The memorandum provides for:

• a long-term partnership and the priority supply of drones to Ukraine,
• the deployment of large-scale production of interceptor drones, quadcopters and strike systems,
• the joint development of new technological solutions to counter cruise and ballistic missiles.

The drones will be supplied at production cost.

Swift Beat, LLC is an American company with a significant presence in Ukraine. It specialises in the production of autonomous drones with artificial intelligence and also actively cooperates with Ukrainian engineers and the military, conducting drone testing in Ukraine.

It is also worth noting that a joint Ukrainian-British drone production facility has been launched. In addition, the Netherlands has joined the financing of the Ukrainian “Drone Line”.