Ukraine’s New App: Order a Drone Like a Pizza

In wars of the past, supporting the troops meant sending care packages filled with socks, letters, and chocolate. In the 21st-century conflict in Ukraine, it means sending a quadcopter with a thermal imager. A new crowdfunding platform, UNITED24, is now making it as easy to fund a frontline drone unit as it is to order a pizza.

This innovative approach to military fundraising, highlighted in a recent article by veteran Wes O’Donnell, is a powerful example of how Ukraine is leveraging global goodwill and modern technology to fight its war. It’s a direct, high-tech line of support that is changing the logistics of battle.

A High-Tech Wishlist

UNITED24 is the Ukrainian government’s official fundraising platform, launched to streamline global donations for the war effort. One of its most effective campaigns is the “Army of Drones,” which allows anyone, anywhere in the world, to directly fund the quadcopters, batteries, and thermal imagers that have become so critical on the battlefield.

This is the modern-day equivalent of a care package. But instead of comforting the soldier, it equips them with a tool that can destroy a Russian tank or provide critical reconnaissance. The platform cuts out the middleman, allowing donors to see exactly where their money is going and ensuring that frontline drone operators get the equipment they need as quickly as possible.

The Power of the Crowd

This crowdfunding model is a brilliant solution to a massive problem. Ukraine is in a war of attrition against a much larger adversary. It needs to produce and procure drones on a massive scale. By creating a simple, transparent platform like UNITED24, the government has harnessed the power of millions of individual supporters around the world.

This is a key part of Ukraine’s broader digital warfare strategy. It’s a decentralized, agile approach that mirrors the very nature of their drone operations. While Russia relies on a centralized, state-run production of drones like the Shahed, Ukraine has fostered a massive ecosystem of small workshops, volunteer groups, and crowdfunding initiatives to build and field thousands of FPV drones every month.

A New Model for Wartime Logistics

The speed and directness of this model are its greatest strengths. In a conflict where a new drone tactic can be developed and deployed in a matter of weeks, the slow, bureaucratic process of traditional military aid can be a major bottleneck.

UNITED24 bypasses that. It allows a drone unit in Donetsk to get a new thermal imager or a fresh supply of batteries in a fraction of the time it would take through normal channels. It’s a logistics model built for the speed of modern drone warfare, where the side that can adapt and innovate the fastest often wins the day.

DroneXL’s Take

The concept of a “care package” is as old as war itself, a way for people back home to send a piece of comfort and support to the front lines. This story shows how that concept has been radically reinvented for the 21st century. The idea that a person in another country can, with a few clicks, effectively send a high-tech tool that will be used in battle the next day is just a mind-bending illustration of our interconnected world.

“Real talk,” this is the democratization of warfare, and it has both inspiring and unsettling aspects. On one hand, it’s an incredible display of global solidarity and a testament to the power of a united citizenry. It’s David using a crowdfunded slingshot against Goliath.

On the other hand, it blurs the lines between civilian support and direct participation in a conflict in a way we’ve never seen before. But in a war for national survival, like the one Ukraine is fighting, it’s a powerful and necessary innovation.

As a professional in the drone industry, it is both awe-inspiring and sobering to see the technology we use for art and commerce become the central tool in a nation’s fight for freedom. It is the most extreme example of the dual-use nature of our technology, and it’s a story that we will be watching for a very long time.

Photo credit: United24 Website