Dutch Firm Intelic Ties Ukraine's Mixed Drone Fleets Into One AI Kill Chain

Intelic's Nexus software links radars, cameras and interceptor drones from different makers on one screen in Ukraine, and the Netherlands is paying more than €30 million to build its own drone force on it.

Amsterdam-based Intelic is rolling out its AI command-and-control software, Nexus, on Ukraine's battlefield, where it supplements Delta, Ukraine's own battle-management system, Reuters reported Oct. 8. The company has an office in Kyiv.

In a late-September test at a disused airbase on the Dutch North Sea coast, Nexus pulled radars, sensors and cameras from other companies into one picture and identified a mock attack. A reconnaissance drone confirmed the target with image recognition. A human then approved the launch of an AI-guided interceptor. Each component ran from a single control panel.

Ukrainian brigades may fly drones from different vendors on different screens, said Anika Kempter, a senior software engineer at Intelic, and Europe has more than 700 drone manufacturers. Operational decisions in Ukraine still sometimes travel by chat app or phone call, according to Reuters. Automating that link shaves minutes off the gap between detection and an attempted shootdown, Kempter said.

Russia now flies jet-powered attack drones at high altitude. In the first three weeks of September it launched 2,100 such drones and 136 missiles at Ukraine, killing 288 people, Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said. At those speeds "you're not so likely to hit it manually, and you need a more autonomous system," Intelic founder and CEO Maurits Korthals Altes told Reuters. A commander may have only a few seconds to decide whether to fire, and Nexus can take on new weapon systems as air-defense hardware ages out, he added.

Intelic's company timeline dates Nexus's first operational contract for Ukraine to November 2024 and its frontline use to May 2025.

The Netherlands is building its own drone force on the same software. The Dutch Ministry of Defence signed a three-year partnership with Intelic worth more than €30 million on July 3, Militarnyi wrote, with software developed first and hardware to follow. "Ukraine is teaching us that it's not just hardware that matters, but software as well," said Derk Boswijk, who signed for the ministry. The Netherlands has put about €1.4 billion into Ukraine's drone program since 2022, Kiel Institute figures show.

In the September test a human still made the launch call. Korthals Altes said the process could be fully autonomous; the Dutch contract runs through the next three years.