Thread by @sambendett

1/ QUICK THREAD on the "Dronnitsa" drone meet-up taking place in Russia's Veliky Novgorod region this weekend (Aug 25-27). This is a second annual event that brings together volunteers, tech developers, organizations, and officials working on drone/UAV/CUAS tech for the military.

2/ First, some back ground - see this thread on the 2022 event. The organizers decided to re-do their logo into something more "tactical" compared to the more "cultural" one from last year.

3/ The main goals this year are similar to 2022: “We want to unite the operators and developers, introduce them to each other so that they can exchange their experience. We want to give (them) an opportunity to demonstrate what has been done after a year and a half."

4/ First day a a half will be devoted to lectures at the Novgorod Scientific and Technical School (NTSH), and the other day and a half to exhibitions and tests will be at an airport near Borky. Both addresses are public in the screen shot below. t.me/dronnitsa/233

5/ This is a much more professional undertaking than last year. The 2022 event was driven by people who were still trying to understand how volunteers and developers are impacting the war.

6/ Screengrab from the opening address today: "UAVs are a Russian answer to our demography - instead of birthing an army of soldiers, we have to "birth" an army of (their) mechanical doubles (robots)." t.me/dronnitsa/258

7/ This year, the lectures and seminars will cover the following topics: The problem of information transmission in the reconnaissance and fire contour - one year later; The problem of evaluating the effectiveness of the use of small-sized strike UAVs;

8/ A promising direction for organizing UAV strike units as a tool for a combined arms commander; #AI technology for UAVs; Ensuring the breakthrough of the Ukrainian's long-term defense and the development of success in depth by UAVs of the High Command's Reserve Forces;

9/ and methods for detecting and selecting drones as targets, and ways to neutralize them. Along with UAVs, this year's Dronnitsa focus will also be on ground, surface and subsurface robotic and autonomous systems.

10/ The organizers are also bringing together volunteers and other efforts providing other war-related materials and supplies for an exhibition and exchange of lessons and experiences. t.me/dronnitsa/246

11/ Some of the companies that will exhibit and test include drone and quadcopter, UGV, CUAS and other tech and systems manufacturers.

12/ Last year's goal was to network among the attendees, exchange lessons learned and develop a concept for train-the-trainers for UAV and quadcopter operators. This year, the event goes beyond to the overall concept of war and the place of robotic systems in combat.