Ukraine Opens National Student Contest for Perching FPV Drone Tech
Ukraine’s Brave1 defense innovation cluster has launched a national engineering competition inviting students to develop a payload for tactical first-person view (FPV) drones to enable perching while on standby.
The challenge, titled “Drone With Paws,” targets a solution that enables unmanned aerial systems to land and remain fixed on natural or artificial surfaces at height in low-power mode before resuming flight through a controlled release.
Brave1 announced the initiative alongside the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Ministry of Education and Science.
Drone With Paws Project
Kyiv said that the competition is open for student teams from pre-higher and higher education institutions across Ukraine.
Each group may include up to five members and can combine students from different institutions, with engineering backgrounds encouraged but not required.
Submission of project description is open until mid-February, while the selection of teams will be announced and advance to prototype development immediately ahead of a presentation in March.
Following the presentation stage, Ukrainian drone manufacturers will select designs with practical potential.
Chosen teams will then work for one month with the companies to integrate the mechanical attachment with FPV drone platforms and conduct full flight tests.
Winners will be determined based on test results and receive a total prize fund of 90,000 Ukrainian hryvnias ($2,084).
Support From Local Industry, EU
Brave1’s competition marks the launch of the broader “Brave Students” track, aimed at connecting universities with the defense technology industry to transform academic research into deployable solutions.
The initiative is supported through the EU4UA Defence Tech program, a 3.3-million euro ($3.8 million) grant backed by the European Union to fast-track Ukrainian military innovations, and is implemented by the Kyiv-based think tank Better Regulation Delivery Office.
