Erik Prince, the notorious founder of US mercenary giant Blackwater, has officially entered the Ukrainian drone warfare scene.
According to guardianciting an SEC filing dated February 23, 2026, Prince has been appointed non-executive chairman of Swarmer, a veteran Ukrainian startup specializing in AI-powered autonomous drone swarms.
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The move signals a major shift in what the world’s most controversial private military is betting on: Ukraine’s “killbox.” ” Technology.
Swamer is more than just a technology company. It is an enterprise forged in the “cauldron of modern combat.” Since April 2024, its platform has executed more than 100,000 real-world combat missions using machine learning to coordinate swarms of drones acting with collective autonomy.
The Guardian reports that Prince has made several visits to Kiev since last September to court drone manufacturers, making his new role clear. The plan is to use deep state connections to sell Ukraine’s cutting-edge “killbox” software to the Pentagon and NATO allies, which are now desperate for “drone superiority.”
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August 6, 2025 12:36
Currently, 70% of all combat casualties in the war against Russia are caused by drones, and Prince stands to make huge profits as the Pentagon moves toward mass production of unmanned platforms.
Earlier, Swamer raised a $15 million Series A round backed by leading US investors, making it one of the largest investments in Ukraine’s defense sector since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The company, co-founded in 2023 by Serhiy Kupriyenko and Alex Fink, develops AI-powered systems that allow a single operator to control multiple drones simultaneously.
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