Kostiantyn Liberov via 28th Mechanized Brigade
A front-line Ukrainian military unit said it built a new robot that can shoot down Russian aircraft. It is said to be the first weapon of its kind in this conflict.
The remote-controlled robot offers air defense solutions to front-line fighters without requiring soldiers to expose themselves to the prolific threat of drones. Ukraine has constantly found itself needing air defense options for both its cities and for its troops fighting along the front lines, and has found innovative ways to get there.
“Russian aviation poses a threat not only to peaceful cities but also directly to the front line,” Ukraine’s 28th Mechanized Brigade explained in a post on the Telegram messaging app, adding that Russian planes, helicopters, and reconnaissance drones appear over infantry positions regularly.
In the past, soldiers could use man-portable air defenses to shoot down the aircraft, “but now the situation has changed,” the 28th said, according to a translation of the statement. Russian drones “literally hang in the air, tracking every movement and not even allowing soldiers to raise their heads from the trenches.”
The unit said it responded to this problem by arming a ground robot with an “Igla” surface-to-air missile system, developing the country’s first air defense system mounted on an uncrewed ground vehicle (UGV).
Kostiantyn Liberov via 28th Mechanized Brigade
The 9K38 Igla is a Soviet-era man-portable air defense system, known as MANPADS. It is essentially a shoulder-launched weapon that fires munitions at higher-threat targets like planes, helicopters, and cruise missiles that might be beyond the reach of machine guns.
It’s unclear how many targets this robotic system will have the chance to engage. Over the course of the war, Ukraine has destroyed or damaged over 300 Russian aircraft and helicopters, per the open-source intelligence site Oryx, which tracks equipment losses on both sides, but aircraft of all different types are still flying.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered an arms race, with Moscow and Kyiv rushing to develop and field new technology that could help give them an edge in the grinding conflict.
Drone warfare and robotics have emerged as leading areas of innovation by far, as uncrewed systems are being used in combat on the ground, in the air, and at sea. Russia and Ukraine have continuously tried to adapt their drones to outsmart the enemy.
The air defense robot is one of the latest examples of innovation with UGVs. The Ukrainian armed forces, for instance, have been experimenting with automated machine gun turrets, which allow troops to keep their heads down in combat. Front-line units are mounting .50-caliber machine guns and grenade launchers on ground vehicles. And a Ukrainian company is said to have developed a new ground combat robot that can carry and launch multiple first-person-view drones, acting like a mothership.
Other UGVs can carry out additional combat and logistics missions, such as delivering ammunition to troop positions, evacuating wounded soldiers, placing land mines, and detonating next to enemy armored vehicles.
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