Lee County drone company sending its products to Ukraine to aid war effort

One Lee County man working to help fighters in Ukraine found a way to get thermal camera-enabled drones over to Ukraine to assist with defense and logistics in combatting the Russian invasion.

It started with an online order for three drones. When Chris Allen, director of business development for Florida Drone Supply, located at 16335 S. Tamiami Trail, found out why that man was buying those drones, he talked with some of his coworkers about what they can do to help people in Ukraine.

“Currently, we’re shipping two sets of or two types of drones to Ukraine from two different manufacturers,” Allen said. “They’re being used from a military standpoint, either through the Ukrainian military or Territorial Defense, which is kind of their country militia, if you will, that they’re standing up and they’re requesting the equipment to logistic or liaison people across the border.”

Allen says they’re selling anywhere from five to 20 drones every week and they are all going to Ukraine.

“And these drones, which cost between $5 to $7,000, are giving Ukrainians a bird’s-eye view of what’s going on on the ground,” Allen said. “So, finding people that may be survivors in a war-torn section of the country, in Ukraine, or for tracking troop movements… like I said, it’s nearly invisible, nearly silent at night, the thermal cameras have a great reach, we can see people that may be embedded in tree lines, or different infantry movements or vehicle movements.”

Florida Drone Supply is also creating tutorials to teach users everything from turning the drone on to switching between camera sensors, and Allen says they are getting the tutorials translated into different languages spoken in Ukraine.

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