Ukrainian and Russian drone developers are racing to develop autonomous First Person View (FPV) attack drones immune to radio-jamming.
Ukrainian lawyer and activist Serhii Sternenko recently shared a video of one such drone developed by the 60th and 63rd mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
In the video, the drone homes in on a Russian tank before striking it.
Sternenko said that the strike was carried out under the “conditions of active suppression by electronic warfare systems.”
Machine-Vision
Radio-frequency jammers can obstruct communication between a drone and its operator, disrupting the platform’s navigation.
With machine vision, however, a drone tracks its “target automatically and does not rely on operator signals and is immune to jamming,” according to Forbes.
“They neutralize the work of the enemy’s EW [Electronic Warfare] in most cases and allow you to hit the enemy even more effectively,” the outlet quoted Sternenko as saying.
Ukraine Targets Over 1,000 Drones
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian lawyer-activist urged people to donate to the technology’s development and scaling, aiming to collect 50 million hryvnia ($1.28 million).
Over 1,300 drones will be built with the money, both quadcopters and fixed-wing, he added.
More Autonomous Drones
Autonomous attack drones have previously been deployed in the war, with Ukraine’s Saker Scout drones reportedly carrying out strikes against Russian targets in 2023.
Developed by an AI development firm, the quadcopter Saker Scout can identify 64 different types of Russian military targets and resist radio jamming, according to Forbes.
It has a range of 12 kilometers (7.45 miles) and can carry a munition weighing 3 kilograms (6.61 pound).
Moreover, Ukrainian group AirUnit was reportedly developing an FPV drone in October featuring a self-guided system.
However, unlike the fully-automatic Saker drone capable of spotting, locating, and identifying targets on its own, the AirUnit requires a target to be identified and highlighted by a human first.
According to Forbes, the FPV drone shared by Sternenko also falls in the latter category.
Russian Effort
Meanwhile in Russia, a homing version of the Ovod (“Gadfly”) drone is under development.
Additionally, Kalashnikov subsidiary ZALA is planning to work on a more advanced version of an automatic guidance system it earlier developed for its long-range Lancet FPV drone and later withdrew due to some problems, according to Forbes.
“Both sides are heavily investing in this capability and are trying to gain first mover advantage,” the outlet quoted Russian drone expert Samuel Bendett as saying.
