Tried and tested in war: For European drone manufacturers, Ukraine is the place to be

LE BOURGET, France (AP) — About once a month, French drone manufacturer Henri Seydoux makes what has become a necessary pilgrimage for many in his business — he goes to Ukraine.

Because for drone technology, there is no harder place to survive than the frontlines of the war against Russia’s invasion, where both sides are using unmanned aerial machines of all shapes and sizes to kill and to observe, reshaping modern warfare.

And because the battlefields also bristle with electronic countermeasures and weapons to confuse, jam and shoot down drones, Ukraine has also become an extreme real-life proving ground for advances in drone technology, some of which has started to spill over into non-military sectors.

For manufacturers, being able to say that their drones and related equipment have been battle-tried and tested by Ukrainian forces is becoming a sales pitch as they market their wares not just to national defense departments, but also to police forces, border authorities, rescue services and civilian users.

“When we say, ‘This is a good machine, it works,’ people can believe us or not. But when it’s guys in Ukraine and others saying they’re happy, it has greater value," says Bastien Mancini, president and co-founder of French drone manufacturer Delair, which has teamed up with European defense contractor KNDS to supply Ukrainian forces with 100 exploding drones. KNDS' sales literature notes that they are “combat-proven."

Mancini says civilian users of Delair's other non-military drones “see things that work in Ukraine and say to themselves, ‘It resists jamming, it resists the loss of a radio connection and whatnot and so it’s going to be fine for civilian use, like inspecting electric cables or whatever."

“It really has helped us win markets. It gives people confidence," he told The Associated Press at the Paris Air Show, a major shop-window for the aviation and defense industries.

Henri Seydoux, the founder and head of French drone maker Parrot, says Ukraine is “fascinating” from a drone-technology perspective because “it changes so quickly, there are new ideas non-stop.” He's been making regular trips since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 to meet Ukrainian drone manufacturers, drone software developers and the military authorities.

“Every quarter, the situation changes completely,” he said in an interview. “Every company, let’s say, that makes military equipment or every army is very interested by drones. But the ones that really use them and understand how to use them is the Ukrainians."

For Ukraine, trying to defend against swarms of Russian drones that target cities and waves of drone-supported Russian troops is a matter of survival. So, too, is finding workarounds to counter electronic warfare systems that Russia deploys to jam and disable Ukrainian drones, igniting what has become a drone-technology arms race between the two sides and for manufacturers outside of Ukraine, too.

Small drones that drop bombs and explode against targets — mass-produced at a fraction of the cost of other more complex weapons systems that its allies have supplied — have become increasingly vital for Ukraine's resistance. Its Defense Ministry has said that it plans to buy 4.5 million drones this year, all Ukrainian-made, that allow their operators to see what the machines see, so they can guide the flights in real time — exploding in a Russian trench, for example, or even against a single enemy soldier. That's three times more drones than the ministry bought last year, it says.

“Drones saved Ukraine,” said Alex Vorobei, the Ukrainian sales representative for Ailand Systems, a Ukrainian start-up developing a drone that detects land mines.

Vorobei and others in the drone business say that manufacturers not involved in Ukraine risk being left behind.

“If you’re in the defense field and still not in Ukraine, it means you are nowhere," Vorobei said at the Paris show.

A micro surveillance drone unveiled by Parrot at the Paris show has a nod to Ukraine in its name — the Anafi UKR — and also has been field-tested in what Seydoux describes as the “very harsh environment” on the frontline. It’s equipped with artificial intelligence technology to enable it to find its way when radio and navigational signals are jammed.

Parrot says the drone’s ready-for-war resilience and features also make it a good fit for law enforcement operations, such as monitoring crowds, tracking suspects or keeping watch over borders, and for rescue services in remote areas or during fires and accidents when navigational signals might go down.

Ukraine has been “a real laboratory or test for us, to see if our products worked,” said Delair's Mancini. Its Oskar exploding drone, which has polystyrene wings, carries a half-kilogram (one pound) warhead to detonate against troops and lightly armored vehicles.

Delair developed it in under a year, repurposing one of its civilian drones that was already used in France for mapping and inspecting power cables, and hardening it for Ukraine with technology to resist Russian jamming.

"Five or 10 years ago, lots of people were asking themselves, ’Are drones really useful for something?' No one is asking that question today," he said.

Associated Press writer James Brooks in Odense, Denmark contributed to this report.

A Russian drone attacks a building during Russia's massive missile and drone air attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A drone named Oskar by French manufacturer Delair is displayed at the Paris Air Show Tuesday, June 17, 2025 in Le Bourget, north of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A rescue worker puts out a fire of cars destroyed by a Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)

The Parrot Anafi UKR drone is presented at the Paris Air Show, Wednesday, June 18, 2025 in Le Bourget, north of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)