Machines replace soldiers
Robots should support Ukraine on the front
March 13, 2024, 5:11 a.m
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For months, the USA has been divided over the issue of further aid deliveries to Ukraine. The Ukrainian Minister for Digital Transformation therefore wants to produce unmanned robots on a mass scale. These are not only intended to provide ammunition, but also to minimize human losses at the front.
According to a report by the “Kyiv Independent”, Ukraine is planning multifunctional weapons in the fight against Russia Want to mass produce robot vehicles. In the future, the country wants to keep human participation on the battlefield as low as possible and minimize the number of injured and killed soldiers, announced the Ukrainian Minister for Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov.
The robots could be used in a variety of ways. On the one hand, they could be used to evacuate wounded soldiers and transport ammunition. On the other hand, they are able to detect and defuse mines as well as place them. They could also be used to launch attack drones against Russian tanks, explained Fedorov.
The future deployment is simply “an asymmetrical response to the enemy’s numerical superiority,” since Russia, with a population three times as large, is in a position to recruit new soldiers much more quickly, said the minister.
Solution to a lack of US aid
Kiev is also facing ammunition shortages as $61 billion in US funding remains stuck in Congress due to disagreements between Republicans and Democrats. According to media reports, Russia plans to produce almost three times as much artillery ammunition as the USA and Europe this year.
“The robots have successfully proven themselves on the training ground, in a few months they will be on the battlefield,” Fedorov assured. The minister called the technology “the next game changer of this war,” just as “drones already are.”
According to Fedorov, 140 robotic systems are currently registered on the company Brave1, a state platform for the coordination of defense technologies. 96 had successfully completed tests. Brave1 is doing everything it can to produce the robots as quickly as possible and sell them to the Ukrainian government.
Robots already in use
Although the technology is still under development, both the Ukrainian and Russian armies are already using remote-controlled technologies on the battlefield. Only recently, according to Fedorov, Ukraine moved the ChaBla robotic gun – a remote-controlled machine gun system – to the front line.
As early as October 2023, during the Avdiivka offensive, Ukrainian reconnaissance units reported remote-controlled vehicles the size of cars being used by Russian soldiers to deliver ammunition.