Who Is Oleksandr Stepura?
Oleksandr Stepura is a Ukrainian engineer, pilot, and entrepreneur, and the founder of Skyeton — the company behind the Raybird family of long-endurance unmanned aircraft, including the ACS-3 (Raybird-3) reconnaissance system used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. With nearly two decades in aviation and a track record spanning close to a dozen ventures, Stepura is regarded as one of the key figures behind Ukraine’s rise as a defense-technology leader.
Early Career and Entrepreneurial Path
Long before Skyeton, Oleksandr Stepura built a reputation as a serial entrepreneur. Over the course of his career he has launched close to ten businesses across very different industries — including high-security doors and smart ATM systems — before eventually moving into modular home construction and aviation. He has described this varied background as an asset rather than a distraction: engineering know-how from one industry, he says, has repeatedly resurfaced as useful in another.
Starting With a Manned Aircraft: The K-10 Swift
Skyeton’s story doesn’t begin with drones. In 2006, Stepura founded the company together with a group of aviation engineers to design and build the K-10 Swift — a two-seat, single-engine light sport aircraft, piloted by a human crew, which made its first flight in October 2006. Over the following years, Skyeton built and sold more than 100 of these ultralight aircraft, work that established the company’s engineering discipline and manufacturing standards long before it touched unmanned systems.
That manned-aviation period mattered: Stepura and his team spent years studying why small aircraft crash, and the data pointed overwhelmingly to human error. Combined with a shrinking market for recreational light aircraft, this pushed Skyeton toward a new question — what would it take to remove the pilot from the equation entirely?
From Cockpit to Autopilot: Building the Raybird Family
Following Russia’s 2014 aggression in Crimea and Donbas, Stepura redirected Skyeton’s aviation expertise toward unmanned systems, and the company developed its first fixed-wing UAV prototype that same year.
The resulting product line was named Raybird, with each model’s number reflecting its wingspan rather than a simple version count. Skyeton’s plans from the outset included a family of aircraft: smaller Raybird-1 and Raybird-2 variants alongside the larger Raybird-3, giving the lineup flexibility for different mission profiles and payload requirements. The Raybird-3 — with a roughly 3-meter wingspan — became the first model brought to market and remains Skyeton’s flagship platform today, adopted by the Armed Forces of Ukraine under the military designation ACS-3 since 2018.
Key technical facts about the Raybird-3 (ACS-3) system:
- Flight endurance of up to 28–30 hours
- Operational range of up to 2,500 km
- Operating altitude of up to 4,500–5,500 meters
- Full system includes the aircraft, a portable ground control station, an antenna system, a launcher, camera, and radar
- Fuselage built from graphite, kevlar, and composite layers — engineering knowledge carried over directly from the K-10 Swift program
- One of only five companies in the world producing UAVs with comparable specifications
Wartime Growth and International Expansion
Since February 2022, demand for Skyeton’s systems has grown sharply. Between February 2022 and May 2024, Ukraine’s Defense Forces ordered more than 75 reconnaissance complexes from the company. To reduce production risk from Russian strikes on Ukrainian territory, Stepura led Skyeton’s expansion into Slovakia, opening a manufacturing plant in Hanišk with an initial $3.5 million investment, later supplemented by a further $15 million funding round to scale capacity.
Under Stepura's leadership as founder, Skyeton has also:
- Entered the UK defense market through a joint venture (Skyeton Prevail Solutions Limited) with Prevail Partners, founded by British military veterans Justin Hedges O.B.E. and Damian Huntingford O.B.E.
- Partnered with Polish distributor Allies to deliver Raybird to the Polish market
- Announced new partnerships in Denmark
- Completed registration on NASDAQ CSD as part of preparations for an initial public offering (IPO)
- Positioned the Raybird system as a lower-cost alternative to Western platforms such as the Thales UK Watchkeeper WK450
Public Appearances and Industry Recognition
Oleksandr Stepura regularly represents Ukraine’s defense-tech industry internationally. He has spoken at the Follow The Entrepreneur Investor Summit in Zurich and participated in a panel on the future of European defense organized by FTI Consulting EU in Brussels, discussing how Ukrainian deep-tech and defense companies can contribute to European security.
Addressing Public Scrutiny
Skyeton’s rapid growth has drawn media attention, including questions about Stepura’s past business connections — most notably a reported acquaintance with businessman Leonid Mindich. Stepura has addressed this directly in interviews, explaining that he and Mindich were casually acquainted since a joint 2018 visit to the Kirovohrad Flight Academy, but that all contact ended once Mindich was formally notified of suspicion in a case unrelated to Skyeton. No formal allegations or legal proceedings have been reported against Stepura personally.
Frequently Asked Questions
Oleksandr Stepura is the founder of Skyeton, a Ukrainian manufacturer of unmanned aerial systems.
No. Skyeton started in 2006 building the K-10 Swift, a manned light sport aircraft, and only pivoted to unmanned systems after 2014.
The number refers to the aircraft’s wingspan class rather than a version number. Raybird-3, with a roughly 3-meter wingspan, was the first model brought to market and remains Skyeton’s flagship product.
Skyeton produces the ACS-3 (Raybird-3), a long-endurance reconnaissance drone system in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2018.
Skyeton manufactures in Ukraine and operates an additional production facility in Hanišk, Slovakia, opened to reduce wartime production risk.
Yes — Skyeton has completed registration on NASDAQ CSD as part of its preparations for a public listing.