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Eight months ago, David Arakhamiya was running a small IT company in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolayiv. Today, as an adviser to Ukraines defense minister, he oversees a massive crowdfunding effort that since March has raised about $300million from ordinary citizens. The money is being used to equip Ukraines army with everything from uniforms, water, and other basic supplies to high-tech gear such as reconnaissance drones.

Yaroslav Markevich, another IT entrepreneur with a small company in Kharkiv, once a Soviet hub for aviation technology, presented a plan to the commander of one Ukrainian battalion to create a drone unit after hearing stories about the efficiency of Russian drones. The commander said yes, and by the time his battalion was deployed early this summer, it was the only one in the army equipped with a fleet of short- and long-range drones. Short-range drones are used to help guard roadblocksthey carry infrared-vision devices that detect approaching enemy soldiers at nightand long-range drones are used to locate artillerytargets.

Markevich regularly travels to the front lines to persuade army commanders to use aerial reconnaissance. We would come to an artillery unit, launch the drones, and show them targets located 20 kilometers away on the screen. It made them ecstatic, he says. His work with drones raised Markevichs profile, helping get him elected to Ukraines parliament inOctober.

A crowdfunding effort used to equip Ukraines military

IT experts across Ukraine have been an important part of the volunteer effort to supply the army with equipment. They may enjoy different music than the IT crowd in the U.S.they listen to underground Soviet bands from the 1980sbut theyre still geeks.

The Ukrainian army had no drones at the start of the war, while the rebels were using sophisticated Russian drone technology. Back in summer, reconnaissance drones would have saved many, many lives, says Andriy Horda, a volunteer scout with the Ukrainian army in the war zone. Now, Horda and others say, the troops are equipped with foreign-made drones and homegrown ones built in workshops across the country.

From the minute the army started using drones, the engineers and commanders realized it was cheaper to assemble them locally than to buy them from abroad, Markevich says. Western drones cost upwards of $200,000 apiece; the Ukrainians brought the cost down to about $60,000. About 10 informal groups of technology and aviation experts, all volunteers, are making about 40drones a month, using open-source software and cameras and other parts bought mostly from China.

We started cooperating with scientific institutes in Kiev and Kharkiv, Arakhamiya says. They helped us a lot with aerodynamics. The high-altitude drone systems are now comparable to Western versions, he says.

Other military hardware is under development, including encryption devices to protect communications in the field. Early on in the conflict, IT volunteers built a radio communications system that allows frontline commanders to direct the movements of soldiers using a tablet. Arakhamiya says it cost about eight times less than the army would have paid for a system from a commercial supplier.

Estimated cost of a Ukrainian-assembled reconnaissance drone

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Ukraine's IT Brigade Supports the Troops