Join us for an in-depth conversation with Olaf Hichwa, the Chief Technology Officer at Neros. From receiving his first racing drone for Christmas in 2014 to becoming a CTO and co-founder at America’s biggest FPV drone manufacturer, Olaf shares his incredible 10-year journey.

In this interview, Olaf discusses the ambitious mission of Neros: to build China-free drones for defense technology in the United States, using US-based components. We explore the massive asymmetry in drone production between the West and China, where DJI can produce tens of millions of drones annually, while the American industrial base is capable of only tens of thousands. Olaf shares his insights on what it will take for the West to compete, the importance of Ukraine in global drone innovation, and Neros’s strategy to tackle the challenge at the component level.

The video addresses:
🚁 How Ukraine drives global FPV innovation
⚡ Why modularity is the key to survival on the battlefield
🛰️ The future of drone-on-chip and custom RF systems
🇺🇸 The challenge of reindustrializing the West vs. China’s massive production capacity
🤝 Neros partnerships in Ukraine and beyond

Whether you’re an FPV hobbyist, an engineer, or simply curious about the future of unmanned systems, this conversation gives you an insider’s perspective on where drone technology is heading – and why it matters for global security.

0:00 Olaf’s beginnings: From getting his first drone in 2014 to becoming a drone constructor.
00:3:30 Early projects: How the need for faster racing drones led him to design his first PCBs in high school, starting with a simple VTX on-off switch.
00:8:02 The path to knowledge: Olaf explains how he learned about microelectronics and RF engineering primarily through resources like YouTube, supplemented with mentorship from an RF PhD at a defense company.
00:13:53 The challenge from China: Olaf details China’s industrial dominance, attributing it to a disciplined work culture and supportive government regulations, not just labor costs. Buying Chinese components, he argues, subsidizes a potential enemy’s industrial base.
00:21:04 Designing for uncertainty: Neros’s strategy to maintain agility in drone warfare by adhering to the FPV ecosystem’s modular architecture, allowing components like radios to be easily swapped.
00:26:20 The future of drone tech: The critical need for the West to develop a “drone on a chip” to compete with DJI’s integrated systems. Olaf also touches on the potential of technologies like LoRa and Starlink.
00:39:43 Building an ecosystem: Neros’s approach to partnerships and vertical integration, driven by the current lack of non-Chinese component vendors in the US.
00:44:50 Olaf’s assessment of US and European efforts to rebuild domestic manufacturing, arguing that governments should focus on creating demand for end products rather than deciding which plant to build. Recent events are changing the situation only slightly.

About Neros:
Neros is a US startup company with the goal of manufacturing China-free drones for the defense sector within the United States. The company aims to address the critical gap in Western manufacturing by developing and producing drones from US-based components, and has secured over $45M investments.

Careers at Neros:
Neros is hiring in Kyiv, Ukraine. For more information, visit: https://www.neros.tech