Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
PLEASANT GROVE — Shortly after Russia was in the midst of invading Ukraine in 2022, Pleasant Grove-based Fortem Technologies was deploying its own counter unmanned aircraft systems at the World Cup in Qatar to protect stadiums and venues.
But it wasn't long before Fortem's objective shifted from the World Cup to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"We thought we had applicability and ability to help the Ukrainians in defending their homeland," said Jon Gruen, CEO of Fortem Technologies.
Now, after two years of supporting Ukraine's defense efforts, Fortem Technologies last week was sanctioned by Russia as a response to the company supplying counter-unmanned aircraft systems equipment, or drones, to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
"We initially donated two of our drone capture systems, two drone hunters ... to the Ukrainians," Gruen said. "They (the Ukrainian government) picked the Ukrainian border guard as the first group that we would work with."
Fortem was tasked with protecting different areas of the border, along with critical infrastructure sites. Over the 2½ years that the company has been assisting Ukraine, Gruen said some "hard lessons" have been learned along the way.
He added that the company has been steadily working with Ukraine "to figure out what other drone systems are needed, so drone sizes, drone speeds, drone effector types that are necessary to mitigate and counter the Russian threat."
As a result of the sanction, Fortem's leadership is banned from entering Russia. Gruen said the sanction "was not a complete shock."
"We are proud of our support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian aggression. For us, it's part of doing that work," Gruen said. "There's Ukrainians dying every day. We know them personally. We've known many, many Ukrainians that, unfortunately, have been killed in that war."
He added, "It's nothing that's going to stop us in any way, shape or form."
He also said the sanction won't impact Fortem's operations, as the company is mandated to make its products in the USA, along with sourcing parts from the country.
"We source domestically. We build domestically. So for us, it's not a supply chain issue. We certainly weren't going over and trying to do business in Russia," Gruen said.
