In my recent trip to Ukraine I was astonished to
see that the primary driver of new innovations
in the conflict was entrepreneurs and small
business owners. As an entrepreneur, I know
pivoting and creative problem solving is the
only way to survive. So of course that mindset is
helping the Ukrainians combat the Russians.
I witnessed former start-up CEOs-turned-
drone-creators 3D print mechanisms designed
to drop mortars onto Russian tanks using drones
they learned how to build using YouTube … and I
wonder if our military would allow such civilian
participation if ever a war were to come to us?
All Ukrainians are fighting against the
Russians, not just the military. Everyone feels
compelled to help in some way. Churches have
become distribution points for everything from
blankets to ammunition. Taxi drivers are shuttling
fighters to the front lines. And Ukrainians good
at learning and problem-solving quickly —
entrepreneurs for example — are developing
really clever technologies using just what they
can find on the internet.
Everyone has seen the effectiveness of drones
in Ukraine. The cleverness is definitely driven
by necessity. Modifying and testing drones
can happen in a matter of hours, not weeks or
months. The local countryside becomes the test
range for new concepts and novel bomb-delivery
without onerous red tape and bureaucratic crap,
something our military has not figured out.
We should learn from Ukraine. Flying drones
is increasingly difficult in the United States and
nearly impossible on military ranges — the
same ranges where rockets, mortars, and
machine guns are fully permitted. As with every
overreaction to new tech, the problem is rooted
in lack of understanding. How could a 700-gram
piece of slow-moving plastic with no explosive
capability be more dangerous than the bullet of
a sniper rifle, yet the regulatory process for the
flying plastic is stifling?
Yet, in any future conflict, drones will be
extremely useful as they certainly are in Ukraine.
And our military will be racing to show every
warfighter how to operate and modify drones. So
why don’t we embrace that tech and encourage
use before such a situation exists? Let’s watch
and learn from the Ukrainian people and mix
a little common sense into our bureaucracy,
especially with new technologies.
Unfortunately, I fear we will continue to
overregulate and constrain new tech until our
military gets faster at understanding that the
dangers are not proportional to the benefits. AI
tools like ChatGPT will likely be next in this fear-
driven paralysis of adoption.
Ukrainians are learning how important
problem-solving with tech can be while fighting
for their lives — let’s ensure we learn how to
effectively use tech before it becomes a necessity
to do so.
WHAT
AMERICA
CAN LEARN
FROM THE
DEFENDERS
OF UKRAINE
BY BRAD HALSEY
MAKERS IN DEFENSE OF UKRAINE
21
make.co
Yuri Vlasyuk, Artem Synytsyn
Jury
BRAD HALSEY is CEO and founder
of Building Momentum in Arlington,
Virginia. He is passionate about solving
humanity’s hardest and most urgent
problems. Sometimes this means
dropping into war zones and disaster
areas to rapidly develop solutions. Brad visited Ukraine
last December. He wrote “Fighting Disasters” in Make:
Volume 61.
M85_014-21_Ukraine_F1.indd 21M85_014-21_Ukraine_F1.indd 21 4/11/23 11:14 AM4/11/23 11:14 AM
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