A Ukrainian flying ace is leveraging his aerobatics skills to protect his countrymen from nightly attacks. The most challenging part of an international aerobatics contest is the Free Unknown. Pilots arrive at a competition after having polished sequences of loops, stall turns, and barrel rolls. But for the Free Unknown section they learn which assortment of tricks they must perform only a day in advance. Contestants plan out how they will string together the stipulated moves in the most pleasing fashion, but they cannot rehearse the routine, except in their minds. It's a test of imagination and airmanship that often decides the competition. In 2019, the World Intermediate Aerobatics Championship, which was held on an airfield in the Czech town of Břeclav, contained three Free Unknowns. The winner of the first was a twenty-five-year-old Ukrainian pilot named Timur Fatkullin. At the controls of his red-and-silver Extra 330LX--a nimble German sports plane--he made the unusual move of starting his sequence upside down. He then executed a complicated routine as if he'd practiced it for months. The Ukrainian team, boosted by Fatkullin's performance, won gold. Trevor Dugan, who served as a navigator with the R.A.F. in Afghanistan and Iraq, was on the British team, which took bronze. Fatkullin, he said, was "absolutely phenomenal." Not long after that championship, Fatkullin stopped entering aerobatics competitions: first came the pandemic, then the war with Russia. He moves through life impatiently. Now thirty-two, he has five children. He is tall, with a tight beard, pale-green eyes, and a square jaw. Even in casual situations, he stands ramrod straight, as though about to give or receive an order. He often wears a shirt with three buttons undone, a beige leather flying jacket with the collar turned up, combat pants, and Nike high-tops. He plays the guitar, a little piano. He often carries a thick fold of high-value bills. He speaks several languages, including English (almost perfectly) and Spanish (conversationally). He once spent thirty days in jail after breaking the ribs of a man who'd threatened his wife. He can dance the tango. When Fatkullin was in his mid-twenties, he started doing stunts with a group of other extreme athletes: parachutists, motorcyclists, a free diver.

How well do you know Iran? What is the Ukrainian anti-drone system Sky Map being used in the Gulf? Cheap, mass-produced one-way drones have played a major role in the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran since the first attacks on Tehran on February 28. As Iran uses these drones to target energy facilities, airbases and other strategic sites across the Gulf and Israel, the US and Israel use expensive interceptor missiles for defence. To counter the drone threat, Gulf states and their US partners have turned to Ukrainian-made anti-drone technology, battle-tested against Russian drone attacks.

Japan's Terra Drone expands investment in Ukraine drone sector A soldier from Ukraine's Taifun unmanned aerial vehicle unit holds a new model Marsianin attack drone on April 7 in Kharkiv region, Ukraine. Tokyo-based Terra Drone is expanding its investment in Ukrainian interceptor drones as it looks to bring battlefield-tested technology back to Japan to tap into a multibillion-dollar defense budget for unmanned systems. On Tuesday, Terra Drone CEO Toru Tokushige said the company was entering a new strategic partnership with Ukraine's WinnyLab to develop fixed-wing interceptor drones. It comes after the company announced in March that it would make an investment in Ukraine's Amazing Drones to develop vertical take-off interceptor drones. "Starting with interceptor drones we are looking for products that are good for increasing the defensive power of Ukraine and also the defensive power of Japan," Tokushige said in an interview.

As Iranian-designed Shahed drones spread from Ukraine to the Gulf, U.S. and allied forces are using multimillion-dollar air defenses to counter low-cost attacks, raising sustainability concerns.

Ukraine has responded to a war it didn't start by creating an industry it doesn't want, but could the nation's drone expertise help it rebuild? To learn more, gained exclusive access to the research labs, factories and military training schools behind Ukraine's drones Killhouse Academy, run by the 3rd Assault Brigade, is Ukraine's leading drone-pilot school. The grinding, attritional war between Russia and Ukraine is now entirely dominated by drones. Russia pummels Ukraine with long-range kamikaze aircraft and Ukraine knocks them out of the sky with specialised interceptors. The front line has transitioned from an artillery battle to a first-person-view drone fight, while ground-based robots are increasingly used to deliver ammunition and supplies, launch attacks and evacuate the wounded. As a result, in the four years since Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine has created from nothing an entire industry and ecosystem capable of designing, manufacturing and operating a variety of ingenious drones.