Darkstar Fuels Deftak’s GPS-Independent Drones

• Darkstar invests EUR 600K in Deftak’s edge-operated drone ammunition
• The Ukrainian-Estonian startup develops smart, jam-resistant, GPS-independent drone munitions
• This tech converts recon drones into precision strike weapons, providing Ukraine and NATO a critical battlefield advantage
• Deftak’s future plans include scaling manufacturing and further product development

This May, Darkstar—the Europe-wide defense investment fund and coalition of founders and investors, dedicated to fostering transformative defense tech—announced another investment in a Ukrainian startup. This time, the organization invested EUR 600K in Deftak, the Ukrainian Estonian developer of high-precision GPS-independent ammunition for UAVs.

Deftak and Darkstar in a Nutshell

Darkstar was co-founded by Ragnar Sass, the famous Estonian entrepreneur-turned-investor and a devout supporter of Ukraine in its war. Darkstar’s mission is to strengthen national security for NATO countries and their allies by fostering transformative defense technologies and building an innovative ecosystem. The organization is dedicated to bridging the gap between modern warfare challenges and necessary technologies, primarily by investing in defense tech startups. Darkstar also organizes Future Army Bootcamps in Ukraine, facilitating direct collaboration between innovators, military units, and investors to accelerate combat-ready solutions.

As for Deftak, it started at a hackathon in 2022 where Andrii Romanenko (CEO) met the founding team.

‘I was fortunate to connect with a nuclear physicist who could code, which is a rare combination to encounter, and a world-class mathematician with Google and Facebook background. All of us had entrepreneurial backgrounds, which gave us confidence that we could build this deep tech solution,’ Mr Romanenko recalls.

The founders put no specific meaning in the name. However, it is possible to interpret ‘Def’ as short for ‘defense’ and ‘tak’ is the Ukrainian affirmative word. As such, one can loosely read the name as ‘yes to defense.’

A Holistic Approach to Going Beyond GPS Solving the EW Conundrum

In the past few years since then, both the company and the team grew as key milestones included building and using the first version of Deftak’s product in a combat environment. Reportedly, the second version is close to finalizing, i.e. almost production-ready.

Deftak offers advanced ammunition for new generation drones. The core innovation lies in creating smart, software-defined munitions that enhance drone capabilities. This technology allows off-the-shelf reconnaissance drones to be converted into precise, jam-resistant munition carriers. Effectively, Deftak enables drones to outsmart electronic warfare, providing superior accuracy and resilience in contested battlefield environments.

GPS denial has become a challenge for UAVs since almost the very beginning of Russia’s full-on war against Ukraine in 2022, and there are many tech companies tackling this issue.

‘While most companies focus on optical navigation, it is just one part of our solution. What makes us stand out is that we deliver a complete system that addresses the problem in its entirety. Deftak’s solution integrates optical navigation, guidance and control, aerodynamics, and other critical subsystems to function as a complete and effective unit,’ Mr Romanenko explains.

Edge-Operated Resilience and Future Horizons

Importantly, Deftak’s product doesn’t rely on cloud infrastructure in any way. Everything operates on the edge. While the team does employ cloud tools for development and support internally, the deployed system itself is self-contained.

‘Deftak is one of the most daring and effective teams I have ever worked with. The realities of electronic warfare EW in the war in Ukraine are changing every three months, and Deftak is the best example of a team and product that can give Ukraine and NATO a critical advantage over the enemy today and in the future,’ Mr Sass comments.

The funding is meant to help Deftak finalize the latest version of its product and ramp up manufacturing to produce more units each month. The team expects more significant results as soon as in the next several months, which will be shared publicly.

Deftak’s development of high-precision, GPS-independent ammunition for UAVs directly addresses the pervasive challenge of electronic warfare and GPS denial in modern conflicts. An edge-operated system that integrates optical navigation, guidance, control, and aerodynamics provides a critical battlefield advantage for Ukraine and NATO. It ensures UAVs’ persistent superior accuracy and resilience against sophisticated jamming, thereby significantly enhancing defensive capabilities.