On the premises of Belss, as befits the military industry, no filming is allowed, but the products invented in Latvia, which have already proved their worth in Ukraine, can be shown. The company was founded 30 years ago with the idea of selling radio communications equipment. Later, it designed and built communication towers for mobile operators, and now it produces around a thousand drones a month.
"We provide the control of this drone, it is our 'soft' [software], our irons. The frame is completely designed by us, it is collapsible," said Kaspars Ziediņš, a member of the board of Belss Ltd.
And almost every month, innovation occurs.
"In the prototype stage, in the development stage is a guided mine. If this goes with the drone, then it is targeted and it goes to the target by itself," Kaspars Ziediņš said.
Another of the company's proudest features are the mobile antenna masts, which have just been displayed at the November 18 military parade. Their purpose is to provide communication capabilities in the field of war. But by far the fastest development at the moment is also drones, which are already being supplied in large numbers to Ukrainian soldiers.
Drone operators who have won various awards in the world's most prestigious drone competitions are also involved in the development. Since working for the military, several employees have received death threats, so their faces are not shown in public. They point out that these drones have significantly greater capabilities than those sold in shops - cargo can weigh up to three kilograms, they can fly more than 20 kilometers at speeds of over 160 kilometers per hour, and they can maneuver.
Work has also been ongoing on how best to provide a signal from the drone to the operator so that an adversary can neither determine where the operator is nor intercept the drone's signal.
"There are a total of five antennas. That's our magic. That's why we are able to fly through the so-called 'jammers' much better. They just carry us out of the air. We can't tell you the whole story, it's our magic. It makes us extra resilient to it all," an employee said.
The aircraft is also equipped with night-vision cameras. They can fly even in freezing weather.
Further developing the model, the company is now developing a prototype for the European market. The drone needs to meet the highest European Union requirements but retain its current characteristics, which have already been appreciated on the battlefield.
