A drone-manufacturing company has failed to deliver on a lucrative contract with the country’s military, Ukrainian investigative outlet Bihus.info reported on Tuesday. Ukrainian Aviation Systems (UAS) failed to meet a deadline to provide the military with 55 HAWK reconnaissance drones in mid-August, delivering just four units, of which just one was deemed airworthy.
The HAWK drone is a small winged reconnaissance UAV capable of reaching speeds of up to 55 kilometers per hour (34mph), according to UAS. Each unit costs more than 14.5 million hryvnias (nearly $400,000), while the whole contract is worth 807 million hryvnias or almost $22 million, with at least $17.6 million paid to the company in advance, according to Bihus.info.
Reporters with the outlet attended ill-fated trials of the drones, during which only one unit managed to show decent performance and was accepted by the military. One of the drones repeatedly lost connection to ground control mid-flight, while another lost its wings and crashed. A third unit failed to take off at all, the outlet reported.
UAS is linked to Borislav Rosenblat, a former MP and close associate of former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko. Rosenblat has repeatedly been involved in various corruption scandals, ending up being stripped of his mandate in 2017 amid an investigation into illegal amber mining and trade.
Following the botched HAWK trials, the company managed to supply another 11 drones of the type to the military, according to Rosenblat. It was not immediately clear whether the newer drones fared any better during trials or whether any trials were even held, Bihus.info noted.
UAS secured its first contract to supply nine HAWK drones to Kiev in 2018. The actual delivery, however, occurred only after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out, as the manufacturer and the military had been locked in a legal battle over missed deadlines and the inflated costs of the UAVs, the outlet noted. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense told the outlet that it had received no negative feedback on the drones amid the conflict.
The questionable record of the company had not become an obstacle to the new major contract for 55 more drones. The contract then caused a split within the UAS itself, its trademark and administrative parts ended up being controlled by Rosenblat while actual manufacturing units were run by company co-founder Konstantin Pozhidayev. The internal conflict had allegedly been sparked by a dispute over the drones’ inflated costs, which included a 30% kickback offered by Rosenblat to defense ministry officials, Bihus.info’s report continues.
The internal spat also led to changes to the HAWK drones, later units being built using new components. According to Bihus.info, Rosenblat acknowledged the changes, arguing they were actually an “upgrade.” During mid-August trials, the businessman admitted the company had only 12 complete HAWK units in its stock, with components to build around 18 others, falling well short of the pre-ordered 55 units. He blamed the situation on the anti-corruption probe into UAS, which has had its assets frozen. Thus far, the HAWK debacle has not invoked any repercussions from the Defense Ministry, with the delivery deadline simply shifting to October.