Ukrainian AI will not target humans in any way. Its task is to direct the drone to the target chosen by the person in case of loss of signal with the operator.
AI-powered quadcopters could help the Ukrainian military deter the invading Russian army. According to an analyst from The Daily Beast, such drones would be deprived of the main vulnerability that the Russian Armed Forces are currently actively using.
How will artificial intelligence solve the problem of jamming drones using electronic warfare equipment?
After the Ukrainian Armed Forces began to actively use explosive-laden UAVs, the Russians used electronic warfare (EW) weapons against them along the entire front. These jammers can block signals connecting FPV drones to operators. When a drone loses contact, it can veer off course and miss its target like a tank.
“Communication between the UAV and the operator is a serious vulnerability because it can be affected by electronic warfare,” said Samuel Bendett, a senior researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Aware of this, Ukrainian drone developers are trying to introduce artificial intelligence (AI) functions. It will work like this: If the intervention becomes too intense and the drone loses the command signal, artificial intelligence will be able to take control instead of the operator and use “machine vision” to direct the device to the target. Ukrainian company Twist Robotics has already tested an AI algorithm for targeting drones.
“Once locked on a target, the drone is controlled by this system,” Rostislav Olenchin, co-founder of Twist Robotics, told The Washington Post.
How are the Russian Armed Forces combating Ukrainian drones at the front?
At the beginning of Russia’s aggressive invasion, Ukraine had a huge advantage over the Russian Armed Forces in the field of robotics, as developers had access to advanced US and EU technologies. Ukrainians had more drones and were of better quality than Russia. Moreover, the Ukrainian Armed Forces used them more intelligently. For example, Robert Brovdy, commander of the Birds of Magyar group defending the Kherson region, said that his group had shot down 450 Russian vehicles since mid-October 2023 and completely destroyed 153 of them.
Since 2024, the number of FPV drones deployed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine has increased rapidly, and Russia has begun to look for weapons against them in its arsenal. The choice fell on the backpack radio jammer RP-377, which creates hundreds of watts of noise on the most popular frequencies for radio communications. The RP-377 was developed several years ago to protect troops from radio-triggered roadside bombs.
“Devices have appeared on Russian tanks, armored personnel carriers and even artillery along the entire front line in recent months. By producing hundreds of watts of energy, they can create a “security bubble” around military equipment, protecting it from drones. Moreover, they are cheap by military standards; per unit about approx. 10 thousand US dollars,” the material says.
“I saw the spectrograms,” Ukrainian drone expert Sergei Beskrestnov wrote on Telegram, analyzing RP-377. – “The interference is of very high quality.” Fortunately for the Ukrainians, the RP-377 has a short range – only a few tens of feet (one foot equals 30.5 cm), according to Beskrestnov.
The most experienced Ukrainian operators can control attack drones despite interference, targeting them with maximum precision. When the drones fell into the radio interference zone, there was no need to adjust the course, as the kamikazes still hit the target or at least touched it. These successes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not go unnoticed, and soon devices called “Riptide” began to be installed on Russian vehicles. According to Russian developers, Riptide operates at a distance of up to 800 m. This means that if it jams an approaching FPV drone, it is enough for the Riptide vehicle to have time to escape from the approaching drone, which can no longer be controlled.
“Operational skills alone will probably not be enough for Ukrainian forces to maintain their advantage in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles, as the Russian Armed Forces increasingly use jammers. But with the help of artificial intelligence, it may be enough to gain an advantage “, writes the media.
Ukrainian military artificial intelligence will not threaten humans
Here’s how AI can help drone operators: When a pilot flies his FPV drone toward a target, a machine algorithm that “looks” through the front-facing video camera quickly recognizes the target by its size, shape, color, and even infrared heat signature. Then, if the drone encounters interference and loses radio contact with the operator, the AI is guaranteed to guide it to the target.
“AI proponents overestimate the capabilities of neural networks, ignoring their limitations,” Carlo Kopp, an analyst at Air Power Australia, told The Daily Beast, implying that there is no need to fear the “rise of the machines.”
Important
Ukrainian developers do not plan to create an artificial intelligence that will determine which of millions of people may be militants and who may be civilians, as the Israelis have done with their artificial intelligence algorithms. No, Ukrainian developers gave their AI a much narrower task: to take a target that a person has already selected and set and remember what it looks like. Beskrestnov said in a recent video that this reflects the basic principle of Ukrainian drone philosophy: “Our army is not ready to give complete control to artificial intelligence over the firing of weapons.”
Ukrainian Armed Forces need AI drones, but they will cost higher
Ukraine actively uses FPV drones because they are cheap. If every new drone Ukrainians import or assemble is sent to a workshop to install AI controls, the cost of the devices could increase significantly.
“But it is clear that given a choice between paying more for drones or watching drones become obsolete, Ukrainians will choose. If given a choice between joining forces with artificial intelligence or losing the advantage on the battlefield, Ukrainians will choose artificial intelligence, ”conclude the authors of the material .
We previously wrote that Rogozin complained about Ukraine’s FPV drones and threatened to shoot “high bidders” in the Russian Federation. A large number of Ukrainian UAVs made life difficult for the Russian army at the front. The former head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said that the Russian Federation should “respond” to this by removing bureaucratic procedures and “sanctions” against citizens who inflate the prices of unmanned vehicles on Internet platforms.
Source: Focus
Ashley Fitzgerald is an accomplished journalist in the field of technology. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the latest technology developments, Ashley’s writing provides readers with insightful analysis and unique perspectives on the industry.