Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been quietly plotting a new defense tech effort: a stealth military drone project, four sources with knowledge of the effort told Forbes. The project’s existence has not been previously reported and it has yet to publicly launch.
The clandestine project intends to provide an American alternative to Chinese drones, and will develop unmanned aircraft systems specifically to be used on the battlefield, two of the sources said. Three of the sources familiar with Schmidt’s engagements said the work is influenced by his recent visits to Ukraine, where the billionaire has made inroads with government officials and military leaders over the past year. Two of these individuals added that Sebastian Thrun, a cofounder of Google’s moonshot lab, is involved with the effort.
Forbes was unable to determine who other than Thrun is helping with the secretive project, when it commenced and whether Schmidt is its sole backer. According to two sources, only a handful of people are working on the project, which Schmidt has largely managed to keep quiet due to geopolitical sensitivities. It’s unclear whether a company has even been incorporated. Schmidt and Thrun declined to comment.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahemerson/2024/01/09/ex-google-ceo-eric-schmidt-is-working-on-a-secret-military-drone-project/?sh=4701ad266c6b
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The clandestine project intends to provide an American alternative to Chinese drones, and will develop unmanned aircraft systems specifically to be used on the battlefield, two of the sources said. Three of the sources familiar with Schmidt’s engagements said the work is influenced by his recent visits to Ukraine, where the billionaire has made inroads with government officials and military leaders over the past year. Two of these individuals added that Sebastian Thrun, a cofounder of Google’s moonshot lab, is involved with the effort.
Forbes was unable to determine who other than Thrun is helping with the secretive project, when it commenced and whether Schmidt is its sole backer. According to two sources, only a handful of people are working on the project, which Schmidt has largely managed to keep quiet due to geopolitical sensitivities. It’s unclear whether a company has even been incorporated. Schmidt and Thrun declined to comment.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahemerson/2024/01/09/ex-google-ceo-eric-schmidt-is-working-on-a-secret-military-drone-project/?sh=4701ad266c6b
Forbes Daily Briefing shares the best of Forbes reporting on wealth, business, entrepreneurship, leadership and more. Tune in every day, seven days a week, to hear a new story. Subscribe here: https://art19.com/shows/forbes-daily-briefing
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
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TechTranscript
00:00 Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Thursday, February 1st.
00:05 Today on Forbes, Eric Schmidt's secret military project revealed.
00:10 Attack drones.
00:13 Today we have a follow-up to a story we brought you last month.
00:17 Billionaire technologist Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, has been quietly building
00:22 a new drone startup in the US and Ukraine within a nesting doll of LLCs that have helped
00:28 to conceal its operations and team members.
00:32 Forbes first reported the project's existence in January and has since learned that it is
00:36 called "White Stork," a reference to the national bird and sacred totem of Ukraine, where Schmidt
00:42 has assumed the role of defense tech advisor and financier.
00:47 White Stork was formally established last August, according to business and corporation
00:51 records and two sources with knowledge of the startup.
00:54 The company has been developing a mass-producible drone that uses artificial intelligence for
00:59 visual targeting and can function in zero-coms environments created by GPS jamming.
01:06 Though it hasn't emerged from stealth, White Stork has become an open secret in the drone
01:10 community, six people familiar with its activities told Forbes.
01:14 In Ukraine, Schmidt has toured factories and testing ranges and has reached out to numerous
01:19 other startups in his capacity as a prolific military tech investor, three of these individuals
01:24 said.
01:26 Delaware business filings show that White Stork previously operated as an LLC called
01:31 SwiftBeat Holdings but amended its name to White Stork Group LLC last September.
01:37 A holding company for SwiftBeat called Volja Robotics OU identifies the former Google CEO
01:45 as its sole beneficial owner.
01:47 Meanwhile, business filings show Volja Robotics was incorporated in Estonia last December
01:54 and lists the legal director at Schmidt's family office, Hill Spire, as a board member.
01:59 Estonia is a popular incorporation vehicle for Ukrainian companies.
02:03 Forbes is reporting the names connected to Schmidt's drone venture here for the first
02:07 time.
02:08 Schmidt could not be reached for comment through a spokesperson.
02:12 In January, SwiftBeat registered the website AurelianIndustries.us, according to Internet
02:18 Domain data.
02:20 The email address affiliated with the site is support@whitestork.com.
02:24 It lists the phone number of a Hill Spire IT manager as its contact information, and
02:28 the street address provided for SwiftBeat matches that of the Schmidt Family Foundation,
02:33 a private grant-making organization run by Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
02:37 Forbes was unable to determine the nature of Aurelian Industries, which shares its name
02:41 with a Delaware LLC incorporated in January, but it appears to be affiliated with the drone
02:46 project.
02:47 None of these entities have publicly launched.
02:50 The website for Aurelian Industries remains unpopulated, for example, and the name Whitestork
02:56 is currently used by a seemingly unrelated U.S. charity that delivers first aid to Ukrainian
03:00 fighters.
03:02 Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Schmidt has been a vocal proponent of drones
03:07 as a means of combating Kremlin forces, which far outnumber Ukraine's own.
03:12 In a Wall Street Journal op-ed last July, he wrote, "Perhaps the most important is the
03:18 kamikaze drone."
03:20 Also known as so-called "suicide drones," these cheap aircraft can loiter on the battlefield
03:25 before being dispatched to disable or destroy their targets.
03:29 Schmidt added, "In the hands of a skilled operator with several months of training, these drones
03:34 fly so fast they are nearly impossible to shoot down."
03:39 Schmidt underscored this argument again in an op-ed for Foreign Affairs last month, declaring
03:43 that "Russia's superior electronic warfare capabilities allow it to jam and spoof the
03:49 signals between Ukrainian drones and their pilots.
03:52 If Ukraine is to neutralize Russian drones, its forces will need the same capabilities."
03:58 He added that so far, against such tactics, most weaponry supplied by Western allies has
04:02 "fared poorly."
04:05 What Schmidt didn't disclose in these op-eds were his own efforts to address this need
04:10 with White Stork.
04:12 For full coverage, check out Sarah Emerson and Richard Nieves' piece on Forbes.com.
04:19 This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
04:21 Thanks for tuning in.
04:22 [MUSIC]