Ukraine's Military Technology Developments

"Ukrainian forces reportedly used a new AI-powered “mother drone” for the first time on the frontlines in late May. A Ukrainian startup first reported on May 26 that its GOGOL-M AI-powered mothership drone carried out its first autonomous missions during a trial against Russian targets.[38] The startup noted that the GOGOL-M mothership can deliver two FPV attack drones and launch a precision strike at a range of 300 kilometers. Fedorov announced on May 29 that Ukraine’s defense platform Brave1 created and battlefield-tested a new mothership drone that can autonomously identify, find, and strike targets with two FPV drones at a distance of up to 300 kilometers, including striking Russian aircraft, air defense systems, and critical infrastructure.[39] Fedorov stated that the mothership can return for additional usage if it operates at a distance of up to 100 kilometers and that the drone uses the “SmartPilot” system and cameras for visual-inertial navigation. The full effectiveness and autonomy of Russian and Ukrainian AI-powered mothership drones are unclear right now, given that both systems are currently undergoing battlefield testing" "Promises of an immediate AI/ML drone revolution are premature as of June 2025, given that both Russian and Ukrainian forces will need to allocate more time, testing, and investment to deploy these drones on the frontlines en masse. Russia and Ukraine will continue improving their ML and machine vision capabilities while training and testing AI capabilities. Russia and Ukraine will then need to tackle the issue of scaling the production of the new AI/ML drones that will require additional time and resources to facilitate. Russia and Ukraine may start to use some AI/ML drones to carry out specific tasks in the meantime, such as striking certain types of targets like armored equipment or aircraft, before learning to fully operate on the battlefield. AI/ML drones are also unlikely to fully replace the need for the mass of tactical FPV drones over the coming months because the latter are cheaper to produce and adapt to the current battlefield conditions at the current state of technology." By Kateryna StepanenkoI at the Institute for the Study of War

A Ukrainian operator compared it to a video game: set the waypoints, pick the targets, and let it run. He was talking about a drone mothership that flies 300 kilometers, drops two AI-guided FPVs, and returns home—no comms, GPS, or pilot. According to Strategy Force Solutions, they’ve already used the system in live trials against Russian targets. It’s unconfirmed, but credible. And it’s exactly the kind of autonomy the defense world has been theorizing for years. What’s striking isn’t the drone itself, it’s the software stack behind it. A LIDAR-based autonomy suite originally built for civilian infrastructure inspection, now retooled for war. The drone sees, navigates, and strikes the way a human would, but faster, with fewer constraints, and no need for a remote operator. This capability has grown essential as the battlefield has evolved. Jamming and electronic warfare have made the skies above Ukraine chaotic for traditionally-controlled drones, but the country's military has adapted in two distinct ways: looking backward to fiber-optics, and forward to edge-deployed autonomy. The latter unlocks resilience—drones that don’t need to phone home, that can make decisions on their own, and complete missions even in contested, comms-denied environments. If it works, it’s not just another edge case. It’s a glimpse at where this is all heading: kill chains designed around AI-first logic, not human workflows. And the most important part? It’s already flying. Built under siege. Fielded at scale. We keep asking what autonomy can augment. But we’re past that. The better question now: what happens when autonomy is the force?

Ukraine’s Azov brigade has fielded a new drone that looks like a baby Shahed. Designed to be hand carried and used against light armor, radar and artillery the SETH system is designed for frontline combat. It has a tailless delta-wing design, an electric motor with a pusher prop and is likely launched with a catapult system. Photos of the drone show the use of a protected GPS receiver with an eight-channel CRPA antenna to improve comms/navigation in a nasty jamming environment. Azov has also stated the SETH is equipped with advanced terminal guidance; While the system loiters, operators simply click a target and the drone flies itself to the destination. Other data on the drone is slim, but it has an estimated payload of 6-10lbs with a range of 30 miles.

My new report is out today! It explores the real state of AI-enabled autonomy in the war in Ukraine and how AI is shaping the future of unmanned warfare. Key takeaways: 🇺🇦 The Ukrainian military envisions removing soldiers from direct combat by expanding AI-enabled unmanned systems. 🤖 Full battlefield autonomy is not yet a reality, but AI is already enhancing navigation, target recognition, and operational efficiency. 🚀 FPV drones are evolving with modular designs, heavier payloads, and autonomous features—making them cost-effective and widely accessible. 🧭AI-driven navigation boosts drone strike success rates 3-4x, reducing costs and operator dependency while increasing operational tempo. 🛡️ Small-scale AI models rapidly updated software integrated across unmanned systems help Ukraine to stay ahead, enabling fast R&D and battlefield deployment. ⚡ The next frontier: autonomous swarms and expanding AI to ground, sea, and undersea platforms. Ukraine is setting the pace for AI-driven warfare—read the full report to dive deeper into these developments! 📖 Read more: https://lnkd.in/etQptK27 #Ukraine #AI #DefenseTech #Drones #Autonomy #MilitaryInnovation #CSIS

Ukraine’s success in equipping FPV drones with autonomous targeting and terminal control begins with just how fast they’re finding/utilizing better on-edge processors. Months ago, Russia showcased a downed Ukrainian “Boomerang” FPV using a $70 Rockship single board computer with very limited capacity. Today we’re seeing the exact same drones use a ‘Google Coral AI’ dev board; a TPU processor capable of 4 trillion operations per second… at a cost of only $130.  While they haven’t yet achieved full autonomy, this type of iteration is how you get there.