Why the military needs Kropyva
Kropyva is a Ukrainian tactical command and control system developed since 2014 by volunteers of the Army SOS initiative together with engineers of the Logika design bureau. It combines a tablet with a GPS map, position sharing between friendly units and calculation tools for artillery. Under the NATO classification, the system belongs to the C2 — command and control — category.
Development history
Development of Kropyva began in 2014 as a volunteer project of the Army SOS initiative. The idea was to give tactical units an inexpensive orientation and control tool built around a standard tablet with a GPS receiver. The core team later became the private design bureau Logika (LLC), a member of the League of Defence Companies of Ukraine.
According to the developers, the system was installed more than 10,000 times between 2014 and 2023. In 2018, the software was handed over to the Armed Forces of Ukraine free of charge, together with the source code and a licence.
System capabilities
- Real-time position sharing between friendly units on a shared map.
- Orientation and navigation using a GPS map on a tablet.
- March and artillery correction calculations.
- Receiving data from UAVs, radars and sound-ranging stations.
- Automation of command tasks at battalion (division) and company level.
- Reduced deployment and target-engagement time.
From the developers
Logika design bureau director Yuriy Dobronravin told ArmyInform that Kropyva makes it possible to automate individual command tasks at battalion (division) and company level. According to him, the time needed to deploy artillery battery assets is reduced roughly fivefold, the time to engage an unplanned target threefold, and the time to open counter-battery fire tenfold.
Yuriy Dobronravin, director of the Logika design bureau
Full interview with the director of the Logika design bureau →
On the battlefield
In August 2022, the crew of a T-64BV tank reportedly hit an enemy tank at a distance of about 10.6 kilometres, adjusting fire with the help of a drone. The episode is cited as an example of how combining reconnaissance assets with software calculations extends the capabilities of equipment. There is no official confirmation of the record range, so the figure should be treated as reported by the crew.
