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Skyeton is the major manufacturer of long-range unmanned aircraft used by the Ukrainian army, with its Raybird system having completed more than 350,000 combat flight hours.
The Raybird can carry various payloads, including reconnaissance cameras, radio frequency locators, and other equipment, while flying up to 2,500km on missions up to 28 hours long.
The system is the product of years of relentless work, undergoing hundreds of engineering tweaks per year to adapt to the battlefield.
“We can sometimes help destroy, in one flight, equipment worth billions,” Mr Knyazhenko said.
Before Russia’s seizure of Crimea in 2014, Skyeton produced ultralight K-10 Swift aircraft. But now its team of 500 employees work day and night with the Ukrainian military.
“Just imagine the situation when the crew comes in and something’s broken in the system,” Mr Knyazhenko said.
“It means that right now, while they’re here, the brigade doesn’t have this equipment that supports them.”
“They’re asking you, okay, how long will it take to repair? In peacetime you would say a couple of weeks or a month. But right now, you have one night. Because if you do not do it one night, tomorrow the enemy will try and approach us and we will not have aircraft in the air, so we will have casualties.”
“The pressure is huge,” Mr Knyazhenko said. “Mentally, it’s very difficult.”
Skyeton’s speed reflects the rapidly shifting nature of the war. Around half of the materials inside the Raybird have been replaced in the last three years, to make it less observable by radar. Endurance is also key: the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has to be able to operate in “very muddy” conditions on the front.
“Your aircraft can easily be in a puddle, and in 10 minutes it has to fly.”
“Sometimes it’s just two weeks before a technology that was the most important on the battlefield isn’t working any more,” Mr Knyazhenko added.