Ukrainian companies are attracting American private investment and Pentagon interest with award-winning drones, but U.S. export laws threaten to squelch efforts to develop technology, company execs said Friday. U.S. investors are pouring money into Ukrainian defense startups. For example, Swarmer, which makes AI software to control multiple drones simultaneously, saw its shares rise 700 percent on its first day of trading. Meanwhile, a joint effort of Ukraine’s SkyFall and UK’s SkyCutter won the initial competition of a series held by the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance effort, which would grow by several thousand percent to $54 billion under the White House’s 2027 budget plan. Several other Ukrainian drone companies took spots on the leaderboard.  “We’re excited about that,” Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael told reporters at the Pentagon last week. “These companies now that have gotten […]