Thread by @sambendett

1/ QUICK TAKE: Russia's Aleksei Chadaev, co-founder of the annual "Dronnitsa" meet up that will take place on Sept 6-7, and a key figure behind the "KVN" fiber-optic drone, on some of his own lessons and mistakes as a tech volunteer and developer - summary below: t.me/chadayevru/4072

2/ "The most difficult development for me (since 2022) is the demand to pour new wine ("military innovations") into old wineskins ("development institutes", aka "venture model"). In short, it did not turn out very well. Two main reasons behind this failure are..."

3/ "One: "techno-feudalism" (the unwillingness of everyone, from garage developers to a large industrial complex) to create a common space for technology exchange and Two: a procedural model where the key factor is the desire of budget managers to insure any risks associated with the management of state money."

4/ "The problem we faced in interaction with developers: a design engineer (capable of creating a prototype in the laboratory) and a production technologist (capable of quickly organizing mass production of such products at an acceptable price) are very different people."

5/ "Both are necessary for success; otherwise, if at the prototype stage a solution is not thought out based on the possibilities and limitations of the series, then the project is dead at the onset. Even if "at the training range" everything flies, buzzes and spins properly."

6/ "Among (my) mistakes, it is important to acknowledge almost all "expensive" projects. The bottom line: a product for 20 million (rubles) will always be subordinated to at least the divisional headquarters, or even the army HQ. However, 20 items for 1 million (rubles)..."

7/ "...is (with the same costs) a chance to saturate the front so that its C2 could remain in the battalion HQ, or regimental and brigade levels. That is, it is not a question of cost as such, it is a question of the speed of decision-making (the "dromocracy")."

8/ "Our partner (who purchased the first batch of KVN fiber-optic drones) gets credit for the transformation of an obscene Rus joke about (tech that is) "made from shit and sticks" into an absolutely working UAV model with the fastest possible rear and combat testing..."

9/ "...and mass production of those solutions that really work. And when, a month later, we came to the Ministry of Defense with the KVN prototypes, we already had combat results from those KVN drones that were already in the hands of frontline operators."

10/ For a few of Chadaev's thoughts about drone combat from a year ago, see this thread:

https://x.com/sambendett/status/1834236675255316719