Origin plans to begin mass production of Blaze UAV interceptors starting in December

Origin plans to begin mass production of thousands of Blaze UAV interceptors (left) per year starting in December and hopes to increase deliveries of Beak strike UAVs (right). (Janes/Nicholas Fiorenza)

Origin plans to begin mass production of thousands of Blaze autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) interceptors per year starting in December, Agris Kipurs, the Latvian company's CEO, told Janes during a 5 November visit by international journalists to the plant in Riga, Latvia, where the system is produced.

He said contracts are being prepared for countries that he would not name and that customers were testing the system in Ukraine, which is sending positive feedback. Blaze is being marketed to countries including all three Baltic states.

Kipurs noted that Blaze finds targets spotted by radar, with artificial intelligence offering its operator the choice of which one to engage. He described Blaze as “the fastest quad[copter]”, able to handle targets flying up to 220 km/h, although “above that gets tricky”.

He also told Janes that he hopes for higher production of Origin's Beak strike UAV, hundreds of which he said are currently being produced for Latvia, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Ukraine. Kipurs pointed out that increasing Beak production would require more human labour provided by robotics and UAV experts, although he said production could be automated for some parts.

Kipurs admitted the challenge posed by Russian UAV volume but said that Origin can produce UAVs 10 times cheaper than Shahed loitering munitions, saying, “The unit economics is there, but scale must be addressed.”

He also said UAVs could deal with threats posed by Russian UAV incursions into NATO airspace, albeit at the risk of interception producing collateral damage.

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