Belarusian drone business contracts Lithuanian company to design wings – report

May 12, BPN. Lithuanian glider company Sportine Aviacija ir Ko has a contract with a Belarusian drone manufacturer, LRT reported yesterday.

The Lithuanians were designing wings for a cargo drone and were supposed to train the Belarusians to organize mass production. Work on the contract, worth more than €600,000, has been suspended after Lithuanian banks stopped transferring payments to the contractor. They may have considered the wings to be dual-use items, Sportine Aviacija ir Ko said.

Last year, the company was approached by UAVOS, which “presented itself as a US company with offices in Dubai, Minsk and elsewhere.” After the contract was signed, Sportline Aviacija ir Ko executives met with Siarhiej Tycyk, CEO of the Belarusian company Kvand Is, who introduced himself as a UAVOS representative.

Media suggested that Kvand Is might be involved in the production of Iranian kamikaze drones. The Kvand Is CEO said that his cooperation with UAVOS had nothing to do with Belarus. “It’s an American company, and I don’t know what it has agreed with the Lithuanian company,” Tycyk said.

Sportinė Aviacija ir Ko passed the information about the deal to the Lithuanian secret service.