If anyone knows any
#drone designers, builders, or pilots in
#Ukraine, I have an idea I hope at least some will take up:
One way Ukraine could raise more funds is to start designing and producing fire-fighting drones for small just-started
#wildfires and for structure protection ahead of wildfires, for rapid deployment before large assets can arrive, and developing training for their use, then selling these to aligned countries such as
#Canada. For example, the BC
#Wildfire Service could use a few thousand of those, to knock down small fires immediately after lightning strikes, and to douse houses and other structures in fire retardant as soon as residents evacuate each house ahead of an approaching fire.
These assets would of course necessarily clear out as large assets arrive, but they could buy time in some cases, and in some cases—upon arriving early enough—could even obviate the need to send large assets at all.
Other related ideas, based on Ukrainian defenders' ingenuity, might also be saleable. Perhaps, for example, someone will design some super-cheap fire retardant dumb-bombs, compatible with the hard points on the CF-18 Hornet, with terminal velocities low enough not to damage a house, so the
#RCAF could retardant-bomb a just-evacuated city or First Nation faster than the BCWS can get there. (I imagine a proximity-triggered explosively-deployed non-flammable parachute based on an automotive airbag system, a chassis designed for fragmentation into light pieces, and a small explosive charge just large enough to air-burst the retardant, while halting the rest of the mass mid-air just above the “target,” might be one experiment to try.)
Ukraine is the fastest iterator in the relevant technologies, and is likely the only source that could get it done fast enough. As well as gaining funds to accelerate further growth the
#Ukrainian defence-manufacturing capacity, it would become a huge soft-power political gain to ensure continued and expanded international support.
Additionally, putting out some fires and saving some lives could also be a nice change of pace for drone designers, builders, and pilots.
#BCWildfireService #UAV #RPAS
