February 19, 2025: Ukraine recently introduced an upgraded version of its H10 Poseidon reconnaissance and artillery fire control drone. It has a range of 145 kilometers and speed of 75 kilometers an hour. Average missions last about three hours. Poseidon can take off like a helicopter and then fly like a fixed wing aircraft. Electronics include countermeasures for jamming, and a day/night camera with x40 zoom capability. Poseidon can fly high enough to avoid most Russian air defense weapons. The new Mk 3 systems include three H10 drones and two ground control stations.

Poseidon first entered service in mid-2022 and has been heavily used ever since. The manufacturer receives regular feedback from users and based on that continually upgrades newly produced drones. Some upgrades are important enough to install in H10s already in use.

Poseidon is one of the many military items the Ukraine produces locally. In 2024, 96 percent of all drones used were manufactured in Ukraine. Currently about a third of all new weapons overall are produced in Ukraine while another 30 percent come from European nations and the rest from the United States. American and European defense manufacturers are eager to manufacture Ukrainian designed military equipment as a means of upgrading the products they currently produce. The Ukrainians are rewriting the book on how modern wars are fought and their NATO allies, as well as the Russians are taking notes.

Because the Russian economy has been wrecked by three years of sanctions, Russia can’t produce as many new items as they would like or sometimes need. Economic sanctions don’t work immediately but they do eventually. Three years of fighting is way into eventually territory.