AeroDrone

AeroDrone is a Ukrainian manufacturer that started life building agricultural aircraft and pivoted to defence after Russia’s full-scale invasion. Founded in 2018, the company had no record of military work before the war; reporting credits its founding to entrepreneur Yuriy Pederiy, with Dmytro Shymkiv described as a principal backer — the two are former Microsoft executives who met at the company’s Kyiv office before launching the venture. AeroDrone is based in Kyiv and works from an industrial estate in northern Ukraine. Its two headline platforms — the E-300 Enterprise and the smaller D-80 Discovery — both received clearance to operate with Ukraine’s Armed Forces in December 2022.

The E-300 Enterprise is built to lift heavy loads: sources put its payload at up to 300 kg, which lets it carry reconnaissance sensors and communications equipment well beyond the weight class of common front-line scouts, or function as a strike and cargo platform. The D-80 Discovery carries up to 80 kg and has been reported with endurance of as much as 23 hours, putting it in a “second class” of larger, longer-legged drones distinct from cheaper tactical scouts such as the Leleka-100 or Shark. Both airframes are described as carrying anti-jamming equipment to keep flying through Russian electronic warfare. AeroDrone has reported production at a rate of units per month, with prices ranging from roughly $150,000 to $450,000 — a two-aircraft D-80 set fitted with advanced cameras and communications sits at the upper end.

The same airframe family underpins the E-300 “Horynych,” a long-range strike variant adapted from a French-designed Skyranger ultralight and operated by Ukraine’s 14th Regiment of the Unmanned Systems Forces. Ukrainian reporting describes the Horynych carrying up to 300 kg, flying as long as 23 hours, and striking targets up to around 3,000 km inside Russia, with one account citing 78 successful missions — figures that, like most deep-strike claims, are difficult to verify independently. The company sits alongside other long-range Ukrainian developers such as Fire Point in a field that has expanded rapidly under wartime demand.