Short of Soldiers, Ukraine Is Building a ‘Robot Army’

Offering a glimpse of the future of warfare, the IT leader who gave Ukraine its ‘Army of Drones’ in 2022 now plans to build Ukraine’s ‘Army of Robots.’‘Technological warfare does not stand still. We need the next breakthrough,” Mikhaylo Fedorov posts of his new project. “Our bet is on the robotization of warfare. The mission of the Army of Robots is to save lives.”The accompanying AI-generated video of humanoid robots storming Russian positions may look like science fiction. But Mr. Fedorov has a track record. Last February, as Ukraine’s Defense Minister, he persuaded Elon Musk to cut off Russian use of Starlink. This month, he persuaded American tech billionaire Alex Karp to become the first investor in his new defense technology company. “You and your colleagues are launching a company that I think will be defining for the world,” Mr. Karp said, standing alongside the Ukrainian in a video posted on Telegram. Speaking from Washington, the CEO of Palantir Technologies added: “To the extent that I or we can help you I would be very proud to do that.”Setting markers, Mr. Fedorov told tech leaders at a conference in Lviv last weekend that his goal is for a humanoid robot to kill the first Russian soldier in six months. He set a one year deadline for the first robot assault on an enemy position with no infantry involved. “Make robots fight instead of people,” he said, echoing a theme he pursued as defense minister until he was let go by President Zelensky in July. “Robots should do the most dangerous work so our service members can come home.”Driving Ukrainians in the tech arms race is the knowledge that in a contest with Russia, they are the manpower underdogs. With 143 million people, Russia has four times Ukraine’s population. Although Ukrainian drones kill or severely wound 1,000 Russian soldiers a day, President Putin shows no sign of backing down. Yesterday, he signed a decree expanding Russia’s army by 15,000 soldiers, a new division.On the battlefield, Ukraine’s tech advances are making some military specialties go the way of the horse-mounted cavalry. From this 4.5-year long war, Ukrainian snipers account for three of the five longest confirmed kills in the world. But now, Ukrainian snipers are shifting into drone work. A 2.5 mile shot can’t compete with an all seeing drone roaming over miles of front lines. Ukrainian officers estimate that the life span of a Russian soldier who ventures into the 30-mile wide ‘kill zone’ is 20 to 30 minutes.After snipers, sappers may be the next to go. Ground robots, flailing the earth with chains, are detonating landmines, clearing paths for armored personnel carriers and foot soldiers. “Robotic mineclearing was the key to the 3rd Army Corps’ advance,” American military analyst David Axe wrote Sunday in his Trench Art blog. In contrast to a Ukrainian counteroffensive in 2023 that was stopped by landmines, this one regained 68 square miles, took 250 Russian prisoners, and left 5,000 Russians dead or severely wounded, according to Ukrainian Corps commander Brigadier-General Andrii Biletskyi. “During the recent Ukrainian offensive actions, drones, robots, and unmanned systems have been used on a massive scale,” French military analyst Clément Molin posted on X. “If you look at the videos from a few local Russian Telegram channels, 80 percent of the strikes are carried out against ground drones or Vampire systems, and very few against infantry. It’s very clear that these platforms are the future of combat.”Vampire drones are heavy lift drones that drop small ground drones behind enemy lines for monitoring, sabotage or ambushes.In the same Ukrainian offensive, old Soviet armored personnel carriers were repurposed as kamikaze truck bombs. Directed from a safe distance by controllers with joy sticks, these old BTRs blew up Russian positions identified by surveillance drones.During the first half of this year, 50,000 missions were carried out by ground drones. On treads or tires, these R2-D2s have become so common that Ukrainian soldiers now use robot tow trucks to retrieve damaged drones from the battlefield. Ground drones need to be serviced, recharged, and reloaded. In the field, ground drones increasingly do work once performed by combat engineers — blowing up bridges or stringing concertina wire. As the air becomes infested with interceptor drones, the golden age of the military helicopter may be passing. Daring helicopter medevacs of old are being replaced by ground ambulance drones evacuating wounded soldiers to safety in metal capsules on wheels. Yesterday, in a job that previously would have been done by helicopters, a host of supply drones flew four tons of food into 100 points in the besieged city of Oreshky.On land, air and sea, the war steadily becomes drone versus drone. Earlier this month, the Black Sea was the scene of what is believed to be the first naval battle between drones. Ukraine’s Sargan 3000 sea drone, armed with a Protector .50 caliber machine gun, shot up and sank its Russian adversary.President Putin’s response is to throw money as well as men at the problem. Russian government spending on the military is to jump by 27 percent, to $203 billion next year, Reuters reports, citing Russian budget documents. Next year, Russia plans to spend $12 billion on production of jet-powered drones and loitering munitions, President Zelensky said Saturday in his nightly address to the nation. “In September, the Russians launched more than 2,730 jet-powered “shaheds,” he added, referring to a Russian version of an Iranian design.Frustrated by lack of progress against Ukraine’s drone capacity, President Putin has reportedly put out a $20 million bounty for the killing of Unmanned Systems Forces chief Robert ‘Magyar’ Brovdi. Major Brovdi claims to kill or wound 656 Russian soldiers for every member lost in his drone unit. With a few more technology leaps, he believes he can raise the ratio to 1,000 to one.

Short of Soldiers, Ukraine Is Building a ‘Robot Army’

Short of Soldiers, Ukraine Is Building a ‘Robot Army’

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