The French edition of Challenges published Vincent Lamigeon's material "Destinus, la start-up qui arme secrètement l'Ukraine en drones militaires" ("The startup Destinus, which secretly equips Ukraine with military drones") He reports that the Swiss startup Destinus, known for its hypersonic rocket plane projects, has been supplying hundreds of military unmanned aerial vehicles to Ukraine in complete secrecy since 2023. The founder of Destinus is a former Russian businessman Mikhail Kokorich, who previously headed the famous Russian space startup Dauria Aerospace, and recently renounced his Russian citizenship.
An unmanned prototype demonstrator of a supersonic aircraft with a hydrogen engine Destinus Eiger. The Eiger device, which actually made its first flight in October 2022, is equipped with an old American General Electric J85 turbojet engine without an afterburner, using conventional jet fuel (c) Destinus
Like the Roman god Janus, Destinus has two faces. The first, which has received wide publicity, is a promising startup based in Switzerland, which intends to develop hypersonic aircraft and aircraft with speeds of more than Mach 5 for both the cargo and passenger markets. Another person who reveals Challenges today has remained in the shadows so far: since last year, Destinus, founded by Russian-born entrepreneur and anti-Putin opposition leader Mikhail Kokorich (who just renounced his Russian citizenship), is also one of the main European suppliers of military drones to Ukraine.
According to our information, Destinus has delivered hundreds of inexpensive long-range UAVs to Kiev since the second quarter of 2023. These screw vehicles, dubbed Lord, have a range of 750 to more than 2000 km, depending on the version, and are designed to strike ground targets. They are also capable of performing reconnaissance tasks, radio reconnaissance and jamming. This is a key technology, as Russia intercepts a large number of Ukrainian UAVs. The range of the Lord UAV is apparently greater than that of the devices that are still used by the Ukrainian army, such as the Ukrjet UJ-22, UJ-25 Skyline or UJ-26 Beaver, whose flight range does not exceed 1000 km.
UAV interceptors
Since the beginning of 2024, the startup has also been supplying Kiev with two more types of UAVs: Ruta - a jet-powered vehicle that looks like a feathered cruise missile with a range of 300 km (designed to hit ground targets, perform reconnaissance tasks and use as a target, etc.); and Hornet - high-speed (about 300 km/hh) a mini-UAV weighing several kilograms, capable of intercepting and destroying enemy UAVs, as well as mapping the territory or serving as a repeater.
In an interview with Challenges, the founder of Destinus, Mikhail Kokorich, confirms deliveries to Ukraine. "We are already among the main drone manufacturers in Europe," says the founder of Destinus. ― We supply more than a hundred large drones every month, and Ukraine is one of our main customers. Our products are dual-use devices that solve both civilian and military tasks equally well."
The company, which talks about 75 million euros raised since its inception, reached a turnover of 17 million euros in 2023, most of which fell in the last quarter, Mikhail Kokorich points out. "Sales in 2024 may exceed last year's figure by several, and possibly ten times," says the manager. Destinus, still looking for funds, plans to break even in 2024.
Future headquarters in Paris
Although the startup is based in Payerne (Switzerland), its UAVs have so far been manufactured in Germany (Munich), Spain (Madrid) and the Netherlands (Hengelo), with the latter enterprise joining the group during the acquisition of the gas turbine manufacturer Opra in 2023. Most of the devices are exported from Germany. The other share, which is increasing, is going to Ukraine in an unknown place.
Mikhail Kokorich now wants to move the startup's headquarters from Switzerland to France. "We are going to move the group's headquarters to Paris," he says. "As for drone production, we haven't finished the project yet, but it will probably be near Paris for logistical reasons." Why did you choose France? "Germany is a great country to do business in, but its arms export policy is restrictive," explains the founder of Destinus. - Switzerland's neutrality makes it difficult to export. France has significant aviation and military competencies. We believe that it will be easier to obtain export licenses."
To improve relations with France, the Russian-born entrepreneur brought General Michel Friedling, former head of the French Armed Forces Space Command and founder of the space startup Look Up Space, to the board of directors. And to emphasize European and pro-Ukrainian roots, he also appointed former cosmonaut and Minister of Innovation of Spain Pedro Duque to the council, as well as former Finance Minister and current Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Danyliuk.
A cool welcome in France
Although the founder of Destinus chose France over the Netherlands and Spain, the reception there was quite cool at first, he says. "Many people get hung up on my Russian origin, and that's where the negotiations end," he says. ― However, I have just renounced my Russian citizenship, I have been fighting Putin's policies for many years, I even had to move my family to Europe so that they would not become a target. What else needs to be done?"
Mikhail Kokorich announced his final renunciation of citizenship of the Russian Federation on January 14, 2024, stating that he thereby "terminated his formal and only connection with this country. It was a conscious decision from February 2022, caused by my fundamental disagreement with Russia's invasion of Ukraine."
The founder of Destinus assures that he will not ask for money from the state. "We just want to be welcomed and allowed to work," he says. ― We really want to become a French company, this is our main goal." France has not been particularly distinguished at the moment by the massive supply of UAVs to Ukraine, with a notable exception in the form of 150 reconnaissance vehicles, which should be supplied by the Toulouse-based company Delair. Germany was more active, supplying hundreds of UAVs to Ukraine, part of a foreign development (Danish RQ-35 Heidrun, Czech Primoco One), others of German production (Vector). Destinus' move to France may shuffle the cards. "We plan to reach the volume of deliveries of several hundred drones per month," Mikhail Kokorich assures.
Supersonic prototype
Has Destinus finally "turned around" to military UAVs to the detriment of its cargo and passenger vehicle projects? Mikhail Kokorich assures that he has not abandoned his initial ambitions. "We are still working on our hypersonic drone projects, but this kind of technological breakthrough takes time," he explains. ― It took Elon Musk twenty years to develop a launch vehicle for his Martian ambitions - Starship, which has not yet been commissioned. Some hypersonic projects may take 30 years to complete. In the meantime, the company must survive and develop."
The next generation of drones will be inspired by the Destinus 3 prototype unveiled at the Paris Air Show in June 2023. After the first two prototypes, Jungfrau and Eiger, which flew in 2021 and 2022, the Destinus 3, the first supersonic vehicle developed by the startup, is scheduled to fly in 2025.
The startup will rely on this device for the subsequent development of a line of three vehicles for civilian and military use. The Destinus E will receive a high-speed, but subsonic (0.8M) turbojet engine, the device will be able to fly at a very low altitude below radar coverage and at a range of up to 2000 km. Then Destinus plans to create a supersonic interceptor (with a speed of more than 2M) Destinus G, capable of intercepting targets at a distance of 750 km in half an hour. In the long term, the group wants to develop a hypersonic hydrogen drone, the Destinus D, capable of reaching speeds of 5M (6,100 km/h).