“The occupiers surrendered, and the operation was carried out without infantry and without losses on our side,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy writes on X about the unmanned capture of a Russian position - according to the president, the first such in the Ukrainian war.
Lars Forssell, a FOI researcher specializing in unmanned aerial systems and drone protection, emphasizes that much is unknown regarding the specific operation. He says it could be historic.
I am not aware of any unmanned ground vehicles and flying vehicles previously occupying a fortified enemy position in a “real war,” so to speak.
At the same time, he says, it is not unexpected.
I'm not really surprised. Unmanned systems, both on the ground and in the air, are advancing and becoming more and more capable.
Protects human life
Nowadays, there are unmanned ground robots controlled by AI - completely without human intervention - but Forssell guesses that in the Ukraine case it is about remote-controlled systems.
It depends on how complicated the terrain is, whether it's very large rocks or open fields, he says.
According to Zelensky, Ukrainian-developed ground-based missile systems have carried out more than 22,000 missions at the front in three months.
"It's about high technology that protects the highest value - human life," he writes in the X post, which is an excerpt from a speech he gave to Ukrainian arms manufacturers on Monday.
“Better and better”
The benefits are great, notes Lars Forssell.
You are operating a machine - there is no need for a person to go first to shoot and risk being shot. This reduces the risks for your own personnel.
Automated and robotic systems are expected to become more numerous and increasingly capable.
The trenches will probably still be there, but generally speaking, it can be assumed that the proportion of unmanned systems will increase, says Forssell.
They will get better and better and more and more self-driving.
