"Like a Driving School, but You Start in Formula 1": Ukrainian Veterans Teach Czechs to Fight Drones

On the outskirts of Prague, an unusual three-week course is underway: Ukrainian veterans are teaching Czechs how to operate combat FPV drones — the very same quadcopters that have become a key weapon on the front lines in Ukraine. The program was organized by Strong Europe, a nonprofit founded by Martin Kroupa, former head of the "Memory of the Nation" project.

"The goal is to bring the experience of defense and resilience from Ukraine to Czechia," Kroupa explains his organization's mission. The course covers drone assembly and programming, basic field medicine, camouflage, as well as target recognition and drone guidance — essentially full military training.

Instructors with Combat Experience

Theoretical and practical training is led by Ukrainian veterans Ivan and Mykola, who flew drones directly on the front lines. Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, 24-year-old Ivan was 20 and studying economics in Kyiv. He spent three years in the army — first fighting with the 3rd Assault Brigade near Bakhmut and Kharkiv, then moving into a drone operator unit.

"I hate drones. A drone wounded me, so I hate them. But on the other hand, I flew them over the enemy, and the enemy hates them too — so it's fine," Ivan says. His partner Mykola served in the Ukrainian army for 10 years, and from 2022 fought in special operations forces. According to him, not everyone has what it takes to become a drone operator — this becomes clear already at the theoretical testing stage.

The constant background noise of the classes is the buzzing of drones — a sound that has become a symbol of the Ukrainian front. Both instructors admit they've grown used to it, though at first the sound triggered an instinct in Mykola to duck for cover.

From Entrepreneurs to Schoolchildren

Among the course participants are employees of Czech security agencies as well as ordinary civilians, including entrepreneur Jana Kubitová. "I had no idea how difficult this would be. It's like if you'd never driven a car before, and you went straight to getting a Formula 1 license," she shares, adding that she's happy to be learning "from the best."

The 51-year-old woman explains her participation as concern for the future: she was born in communist Czechoslovakia, while her children and grandchildren were born in a free country — and current world events fill her with worry about that future.

Among the trainees is also high school student Otakar Foltýn Jr., who already knows how to fly drones and came to sharpen his skills. He observes that, unlike racing FPV flights, here they teach you to fly as slowly and precisely as possible — likely to prepare for maneuvering in tight spaces.

The Army Is Buying Three Thousand Drones

The topic of small maneuverable drones is also relevant for the Czech army: the Ministry of Defense is only now purchasing three thousand drones of various sizes. The schoolboy's father, Colonel and security analyst Otakar Foltýn, notes that this quantity corresponds to roughly half a day's worth of drone consumption on the front — in war, a drone is essentially a consumable item.

"The operational situation in the war in Ukraine is changing so rapidly that the response of most European armies ranges from 'desperately slow' to 'slow,' and we are definitely not in the better half," Foltýn assesses. According to him, besides procuring the equipment itself, training operators is critically important, and here the well-known Czech talent for improvisation helps: many servicemen are learning to operate drones in their free time out of sheer enthusiasm, which at least partially compensates for the lag.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz