The Lithuanian man who produces accessories for drones was blunt about the military industry: “Finally”

The discussion “What is the development potential of the defense industry of the European Union and how should we increase it in Lithuania?” Ernestas Žvaigždins – the founder of defense startup “Broswarm” – also shared.

The startup achieved financial success this year – the venture capital fund allocated 100,000 thousand to Broswarm this year. funding of US dollars, and the company has earned the title of winner at the cyber defense and security innovation hackathon “Ugninis skydas” held in Lithuania.

in 2023 The company founded by Ernesto Žvaigždins, Karolis Žvaigždins and Mindaugas Talaikis produces an accessory for drones – the accessory is installed on the drone itself, scans the ground and after collecting the data, using artificial intelligence, it is possible to detect the mine more accurately, more easily, without a person on the ground.

E. Žvaigždins told how the idea to create such a technology arose.

“My brother and I saw the problem of landmines on the battlefield, and we started developing our own technology. What we have seen is that this is a problem not only during the war, but also after the war.

I am talking about countries like Iran, Iraq, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Half of landmine victims are children – they pick up landmines that may look like toys“, said E. Zvaigždins.

As the entrepreneur said, this technology is especially relevant for Ukraine, where one third of the country is mined and it will take 700 years to clear it. However, as E. Zvaigždins mentioned, deaths caused by mines are not only a problem of Ukraine.

Based on in 2023 Landmine Monitor Report, 2022 Landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) killed or injured 4,710 people in 49 countries and two non-state regions. 85 percent these victims were civilians, half of this number were children (1,171 in total).

It is also interesting that the startups founded by E. Žvaigždins were completely unrelated to defense. As E. Žvaigždins said, he has been creating startups for more than 20 years. Some of his previous projects include Mobility Bee, a mobile e-commerce platform, and Spicy, a restaurant-on-wheels company. According to the businessman, the production of this accessory is his first humanitarian project.

At the moment, many hopes are placed on the development of drone production in Lithuania – at the end of February, Arvydas Anušauskas, who served as the Minister of National Defense at the time, claimed that this year would be a “breakdown” due to the extremely large amount of weapons being purchased. The then minister unequivocally supported the development of drones and their use in the military.

“This year is indeed a turning point in the development of these systems in Lithuania. As you know, at one time the Lithuanian army gave up all Chinese-made drones, all those drones were handed over to Ukraine. After that, we focused on new acquisitions, which started in 2022 after changing the entire procurement schedule, which was pushed back very far, should have started in 2028-2030,” said A. Anušauskas at the press conference.

Although the Lithuanian army aims to acquire more drones, some experts say that already outdated drones are reaching Lithuania, or there is a lack of communication between the ministry and the soldiers operating the drones.

And here, E. Žvaigždins, the founder of a startup that produces accessories for drones, says that the production of drones will not necessarily be in great demand in the future – according to him, we should think about the production of even more advanced technologies.

“Obviously, drones are here now hot topic. But we are far behind Asia and other countries. It would be necessary to act very quickly or to focus on those technologies that are completely innovative“, said the businessman.

There was no support for the armaments industry for a long time

E. Žvaigždins started his presentation by mentioning that Russia invests incomparably more than European countries both in its defense industry and in national defense. For example, if the average of European countries spends on national defense is less than 2%, then Russia currently spends about 6%. of the country’s budget from GDP.

Despite the circumstances, there was no support for the defense industry in the European Union for a long time.

“For the longest time, the European structural and investment funds did not foresee specialized support, it was forbidden to support the military industry. The funny thing is that there is no venture capital to build startups. In our region, the majority of venture capital funds are supported by money from the European Union“, explained E. Zvaigždins.

“It is clear that there has been no support for the defense industry in the European Union for a long time. There was no focus on technology. We are now moving towards some level of war economy“, added the businessman.

As the businessman said, specialized funds have finally been created on a European scale to support the military industry – NATO innovation fund, European Defense Fund. And venture capital investment funds have appeared in Lithuania, which are interested in investments in the defense sector – Scale Wolf, Baltic Sandbox and others.

E. Žvaigždin’s thoughts were complemented by Greta Monika Tučkutė, Deputy Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Lithuania, who participated in the discussion. According to her, if earlier the defense industry was viewed with suspicion in Europe, now the attitude has changed.

“With the war in Ukraine came the understanding that it is not the same as drugs or other illegal activities. And the defense industry strengthens the security and defense of us all. Therefore, there was a need to strengthen it – there were no direct investments in this area. With the strategy of the European defense industry, there is a generalized and consolidated view of what we need to strengthen”, said G. Tučkutė.

True, according to her, one of the main problems is the lack of integrity. There is a problem when ammunition or projectiles of the same caliber produced by one manufacturer will not necessarily meet the requirements that the production of another manufacturer will meet, and the production of different manufacturers may be incompatible with each other.

“However, it is necessary to strengthen the production of ammunition, because we are not able to provide ourselves. For example, the 155 mm artillery caliber is often used – it is used in Ukraine and everyone lacks it. But a projectile made by one manufacturer will not necessarily meet all accuracy requirements”, explained G. Tučkutė.