Ukraine’s AI-powered ‘mother drone’ sees first combat use, minister says | The drone can deliver two strike drones behind enemy lines. Once released, the smaller drones can autonomously locate and hit high-value targets.
https://kyivindependent.com/ukraines-ai-powered-mother-drone-sees-first-combat-use-minister-says/
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“The drone system, developed by Ukraine’s defense tech cluster Brave1, can deliver two AI-guided FPV (first-person view) strike drones up to 300 kilometers (186 miles) behind enemy lines, according to Fedorov. Once released, the smaller drones can autonomously locate and hit high-value targets, including aircraft, air defense systems, and critical infrastructure — all without using GPS.
“The system uses visual-inertial navigation with cameras and LiDAR to guide the drones, while [AI](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/ai/) independently identifies and selects targets,” Fedorov said.
The system, called SmartPilot, allows the carrier drone to return and be reused for missions within a 100-kilometer range. Each operation costs around $10,000 — hundreds of times cheaper than a conventional missile strike, Fedorov said.
Isn’t there a phrase for this? Robots being given the ability to decide to kill. I know there’s a ton of literature written about it with the general consensus that it is a very bad idea. I fully support Ukraine but this headline is not one I’m glad to see.
The reutilisation of commodity electronics and instrumentation, as well as the costs for consumer / semi pro drones / UAV / RC vehicle equipment – with a wartime impetus is truly a terrifying conjunction. In this case, it’s being used in a war theatre and conflict zone; however this and similar technology systems lower the cost of access and expand the scope of impact to many groups in the near term.
I think there will be a time when a Bayraktar and it’s ilk seem more like a B2 comparatively speaking than one of the first nation state accessible unmanned weapons platforms.
Further much of the technology stack is built on open source, or very user configurable elements – akin to 3D printing which utilised cheap commodity rails, bolts, bearings and chipsets along with layered and iterated refinement allowing greater levels of precision and accessibility; as well as cost reductions very rapidly per generation.
It’s not hard to foresee rogue groups or elements increasingly using such tech to push hard costs upon their adversaries/ targets with a huge differential in terms of cost to strike / cost & feasibility to defend.
Ah yes, robots that can autonomously kill people, just like in the classic sci-fi film “Don’t Create Robots That Can Autonomously Kill People” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
MIC’s long delivery timeframes definitely need to go when you have a full scale war going on in perpetuity in Europe. It’ll continue to advance low cost military tech decades ahead.