Schmidt has been a vocal advocate for drones as a means of combating Russian forces in Ukraine. He has written op-eds emphasizing the importance of kamikaze drones, which are nearly impossible to shoot down and can disable or destroy their targets. However, he did not disclose his involvement with White Stork in these articles. Schmidt has been investing in the Ukrainian military ecosystem, including seeding millions of dollars to a Ukrainian startup accelerator called D3.
Key takeaways:
- Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been working on a military startup called White Stork, which is developing a mass-producible drone that uses artificial intelligence for visual targeting and can function in zero-comms environments created by GPS jamming.
- The startup, which was formally established in August last year, has been operating under a series of LLCs, including Swift Beat Holdings and Volya Robotics OÜ, to conceal its operations and team members.
- Schmidt has been a vocal proponent of drones as a means of combating Kremlin forces in Ukraine, and has been investing in defense tech companies in the country.
- Before leaving his post as Google chairman in 2017, Schmidt had been devoting significant time to U.S. national security efforts, including chairing the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence and leading the Defense Innovation Board.