"It is already impossible to imagine defence without drones, and the same applies to UGVs [unmanned ground vehicles]."

"Logistics on the front line, evacuation of the wounded, combat missions -- the use of UGVs is now expanding at the fastest pace."

"The future is already on the front lines and Ukraine is creating it."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 

 

"At least 25 kilometres from the line of contact is effectively a 'kill zone', where the risks of casualties are extremely high due to the density of drones."

"So replacing human involvement with drones significantly reduces losses."

"[Some of these Unmanned Systems Forces are used in the delivery of mines or to conduct] kamikaze [attacks]." 

Robert Brovdi, commander, Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces

 

"Replacing the infantryman is totally impossible."

"We are talking about helping the infantryman."

Taras Ostapchuk, CEO, Ratel Robotics 

The Droid TW 12.7, by DevDroid, is shown here outfitted with a 0.50-caliber M2 Browning machine gun that can be aimed and fired by a remote operator using a tablet and an encrypted communications link.  DevDroid

 

In the early years of the conflict imposed on Ukraine by the full invasion of the country by Russian forces it was tank formations and large-scale troop movements, the conventional mechanisms in the pursuit of offensive dominance and defensive responses that typified the war. Now approaching the second-half of its fourth year, not taking into account Russia's military annexation of the Crimean peninsula, the eastern and southern front line is at a stalemate, monitored by drones set to strike moving targets. 

 

Ukraine's surprise counteroffensive took Russia's Vladimir Putin off guard; despite its much smaller population, military, arms, and economy. Ukraine stopped the Russian military dead in its tracks, even recovering some of its territory. Ukraine steadily advanced from desperately attempting to down Russian missiles and drones to protect its civilian infrastructure targeted by Moscow, to striking back across the border into Russia, first hitting only border targets then moving on to strike as far as Moscow and beyond.

 

Now, Ukrainian infantry units are using robot vehicles on combat missions as Ukraine has out-innovated Russia. The asymmetric technological approach with the use of drones and robots is Ukraine's winning ticket to defeating the Russian military. Like Mykhailo Fedorov the Ukrainian Defence Minister recently removed, Ukraine's new Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapatryi advocates leveraging drone and robotics know-how for advantage on the battlefield. 

 

Recently a battle robot armed with a flame thrower approached a group of Russian assault troops planning to challenge Ukrainian defences on a section of the eastern Donetsk front lines. The robot turned the area where the Russians were positioned near a tree line to into a flaming cauldron, followed up by a machine gun crew to clean up the surviving attackers. A new battlefield technique employed by Ukraine's 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade.

 

A heavy lift drone (top circle) transporting a ground robot (bottom circle) in a combat operation  Russian MoD via X

 

That robot represents an expanding Ukrainian corps of unmanned ground vehicles equipped with such offensive devices as rifles, to rocket-propelled grenade launchers. At least 50,000 of these UGVs are set to be produced for the battlefield to reinforce human troops tasked to confront Russian servicemen. A remote-controlled combat robot was landed using an unmanned naval drone reaching the shore 11 kilometres away at the occupied Kinburn Spit in southern Ukraine. 

 

The  ground robot, a Wolly 7.62, carried an ammunition-loaded machine gun firing on Russian troop positions, who were forced to pull back, then self-destructed.

 

The $11,000 robot was made use of by the 123rd Separate Territorial Defence Brigade with four Ukrainian operators conducting the assault. "We are already fighting with drones in many areas, and we are very polite to our robots in advance", laughingly explained a solder with the call sign "House Goblin" archly referring to the Terminator movie series. According to Ukrainian officials, unmanned systems help manage the manpower gap with Russia, freeing up soldiers, saving lives on tasks with dangerous logistics in supporting front-line troops and evacuating the wounded. 

 

While Ukraine's wish to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization remains endlessly deferred, NATO members are eager to learn from Ukraine's tactical innovations with the use of its advanced technology in the production of drones and robots. Some European states have signed defence production partnerships with Ukraine as Kyiv strives to become central to the security structures of the continent. 

 

Zysko Sergii/Shutterstock

 

"Absolutely incredible,  [Ukraine] fully integrates every single drone every sensor, and every shooting platform into just one single network", the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee was advised by U.S. army secretary Dan Driscoll. "Ours does not." Ukraine has signed drone deals with countries as disparate as Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands, with an increasing number of partnerships being floated, including with the United States.  

"They accomplished something never done in warfare."

"They pushed Russians off a position that was being defended by humans and they pushed them off the position with no humans in the fight."

Former U.S. army vice-chief of staff Jack Keane  

RoverTech’s Zmiy uncrewed ground vehicle moved through a forest during a demonstration. RoverTech