✈️Drones have become one of the most important parts of modern warfare over the last few years, and Ukraine is probably the best example of how much the battlefield has changed.

Previously, tanks and armored vehicles were the basis of a breakthrough. Today, just getting equipment closer to the front line is a problem. In some sections, "kill zones" several kilometers deep have emerged, where practically every movement is monitored by drones and vehicles become very easy targets there. This does not mean that tanks or armored equipment have stopped being used entirely, but their deployment is significantly more complicated and they are much more vulnerable without support from drones, electronic warfare, and air defense.

And this is where a company I have been following for a while fits in. AeroVironment $AVAV is a company that, for example, makes Switchblade systems, i.e., loitering munitions that can search for a target in the air and then attack it. Just yesterday, it received another order from the US Army for $51 million for Switchblade 600.

And it is no longer a small company. In the last fiscal year, AeroVironment had revenue of almost $2 billion, more than double year-over-year, and backlog reached $1.2 billion. In addition to offensive drones, it is also expanding its business into anti-drone systems, autonomous technologies, and space solutions.

The war in Ukraine has shown that the future of defense will not be just about more expensive tanks and fighter jets, but increasingly about cheaper autonomous systems, drones, and technologies that can destroy them.

Do any of you follow any drone manufacturers? And do you think drones will be one of the main growth areas of the defense sector in the coming years?