Popular Mavic drone will be replaced by homegrown option with longer range, says minister; digital transformation of Ukraine defence ministry and military announced. What we know on day 1,428Ukraine’s new defence minister has announced troops will begin fielding a homegrown replacement for the Chinese-made DJI Mavic drone. Reliance on China for drones and components has been a major concern for Ukraine given Beijing’s close relationship with Moscow. The retail-grade Mavic is used widely for aerial reconnaissance on the frontlines by both sides, even though Ukraine already builds many of its own “suicide” attack drones – as well as defensive versions used to take down Russian drones. Mavic drones are prized by Ukrainian army units, who are often supported by volunteer groups that continuously run campaigns to source Mavics and raise funds to buy them. Mykhailo Fedorov, the defence minister, said: “We will have our own Mavic analogue: the same camera, but with a longer flight range.” Fedorov did not disclose the manufacturer of the Ukrainian version.Fedorov on Tuesday promised a sweeping data-driven overhaul of Ukraine’s military to reward commanders achieving results on the battlefield and give Ukrainian forces the upper hand. Fedorov said he would start by overhauling the vast defence ministry’s management and spending, emphasising the importance of “the mathematics of war”. He promised a mission control system for drone flights and for artillery crews to increase the data available about crews’ performance and effectiveness. Fedorov said Ukraine would establish a system allowing its allies to train their military artificial intelligence models on Kyiv’s combat data collected throughout the war including combat statistics and millions of hours of vi