What should a drone manufacturer say when Russia is watching?

On 11 October, the Financial Times reported that five European intelligence agencies have warned defence executives that Russia is stepping up efforts to kill them. Among smaller companies, the officials named one group in particular: manufacturers of drones and drone components.

For years my advice to drone companies and other technical SMEs has been the same: show your expertise. Write, speak, explain what you have created. Thought leadership campaigns are one way we show the credibility of the technology and the team's capability to innovate.

But that advice must change when increased visibility will make someone a more likely target. This isn't about keeping secrets; it's about keeping people safe.

In this article I look at the options open to drone manufacturers, why going quiet is the wrong answer, and how to stay visible without increasing the risk to your people.

I am writing for drone manufacturers because they are the most obvious target, but the same advice applies to any defence SME with a capability in demand, and to anyone supplying Ukraine.

What are the options?

I can see four tempting responses:

1. Carry on as usual. Visibility wins bids, funding rounds and prime partnerships. But ignoring official advice is not bravery, and it is not fair on your people.
2. Get louder in defiance and buy protection. It denies Russia its effect, and the largest primes can afford it. Most SMEs cannot fund close protection, and a louder founder is a bigger target.
3. Go quiet and bank the savings. It feels safe. But intelligence officials told the FT the main goal is psychological: "Just by making people feel they might be a target, they are having their effect." Go silent and you have given them exactly that. Your technology also stops reaching the people who need it, and a competitor jumps in.
4. Go behind the scenes. Shift effort into business development, relationships and direct work with MOD and primes. This has real merit and will matter more. But it only reaches people you already know. New buyers, investors and the end users who would champion your kit may never hear of you.

Philip Ingram MBE, a former British Army colonel who spent 26 years in military intelligence and is now a journalist and broadcaster, agrees that silence is not the answer: "Hiding what your company does won't protect you; hostile intelligence agencies will know what they want and need, so there is little point in curtailing your comms programme."

Why invest rather than cut?

There is another way. You could treat this as the moment to stop doing wide-scale activity and start sharpening your sword.

Volume was always a blunt tool. Posting every day, speaking at every event, putting the founder's face on everything. It created exposure, but not always understanding.

Precision means knowing exactly who needs to hear from you, what they need to understand and where they will hear it. Then you say less, to fewer people, with more effect. You test the message before it goes out, so you are not relying on reach in the hope that one or two people "get it".

It also means separating the capability from the person. The product, the evidence and the results can stay visible while the individual steps back. A drone manufacturer can let its trials data, its customers and its technology carry the story, rather than one founder carrying it all. Where a human voice is needed, share the load across a few willing, well-briefed people, so no single face becomes the brand.

That needs more strategic investment, not less. Whatever you save by cutting volume should go into knowing your audience and testing your message, then finding the most direct and efficient route to them.

Why must comms be linked to the threat picture?

In many defence SMEs, comms and security sit apart. Marketing plans the launch. Security finds out when the press release is being drafted. That gap was always a weakness. Now the risk has grown.

Comms advice that is fully linked to the threat picture does two jobs at once.

It manages risk. The FT describes "pattern-of-life" surveillance of executives at home and at work. Companies may publish much of that pattern themselves: "see you on stand X at 10am", the founder's travel on LinkedIn, a factory tour with the car park in shot, the team photo with every name and role. None of it is secret. All of it is useful if someone is watching.

A comms team that understands the threat checks every piece for what it gives away, not only what it says. It plans timing, spokespeople and event presence with security in mind. And its crisis plan assumes an incident could be personal, not only reputational.

It sharpens market insight. The threat picture is market intelligence. What an adversary targets tells you which capabilities matter and where the pressure on your customers is coming from. If a drone company's executives are of interest, so is its product. That is a story about relevance, to be handled with care.

Your customers read the same threat picture. Comms that reflects it is comms they recognise and trust. Comms that ignores it can look naive.

It must work both ways. Security advisers need to understand why visibility matters, so they protect people without stalling the business. Comms advisers need enough of the threat picture to see opportunity without creating risk. It's a partnership worth investing in.

As Philip puts it: "What we are seeing is the use of proxy individuals to carry out their actions; in essence, amateurs. That means doing the basics will keep you safe. Your comms teams and board must work with your security teams."

In practice that means a security lens in the comms plan from the start, not a sign-off at the end, and a shared view of the threat landscape as it changes. Do you feel fully informed about the current environment beyond the headlines? Are you considering risk control as well as market intelligence?

What should a drone manufacturer do now?

1. Review the last six months of content for pattern-of-life detail: travel, locations, routines, home and family.
2. Separate the capability from the person. Let the evidence lead, and where you need a voice, spread it across a few volunteers who are briefed on personal security, not just on message.
3. Share events after you have left, not before you arrive. That applies to family and colleagues too.
4. Include security in your strategy and planning, and include comms when you assess threats.
5. Move budget from volume to insight. Know your audience and test your message.
6. Use the free advice from the National Protective Security Authority (NPSA), which works with your security team.
7. Keep going. Silence is the result Russia wants.

Philip's bottom line is to "build a culture where anyone can raise concerns openly and get advice, no matter how trivial it may seem, but also to put threats into perspective; there is likely always a higher priority somewhere than you or your company."

Good technology still needs to reach the people who need it. That has not changed. How we get it there has.

If your strategy needs redoing, it does not have to take months. At Canny, we can help you refocus quickly and do it well. Get in touch for advice on how to do this.

About the author

Lindsay Compton is the founder and CEO of Canny Comms, which helps engineers and scientists explain what they are developing to the people who buy it, fund it and back it. She has around 20 years in defence and security, with companies such as BAE Systems, AirTanker and Roke before founding Canny in 2019. Her work with MOD, Dstl, primes and innovative SMEs aims to get great capability into frontline hands. She holds an Executive MBA from Warwick Business School, a CIPR crisis communications diploma and a BSc in statistics.