Ukraine uses ground robots delivered by drones in combat for the first time

Ukrainian forces have for the first time used armed ground robots in combat conditions, dropped behind enemy lines by heavy multicopter drones.

This is reported by Forbes, citing analyst David Hambling.

At the same time, Ukraine is accelerating the integration of artificial intelligence into combat drones: under a contract financed by Germany for approximately €90 million, 50,000 Shrike FPV drones manufactured by Ukrainian company SkyFall are being delivered. The drones are equipped with AI-based autonomous control software from American firm Auterion — the Skynode S program — which uses computer vision to navigate under electronic jamming conditions and autonomously track moving targets in the terminal phase of flight. Details of the contract were reported by Reuters.

The Shrike platform has already been used in real combat conditions. In July, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces used a Shrike 10 FPV drone costing approximately €347 to destroy a Russian Mi-28N attack helicopter over the Belgorod region. According to SkyFall, their drones have also struck armored vehicles, electronic warfare systems, and artillery guns.

One of the key development directions for the platform will be a swarm attack capability. A future software update to Skynode S will enable coordinated attacks by multiple drones without any hardware modifications to the design.

Analyst David Hambling described the use of air-delivered ground robots as the dawn of a new era in which unmanned systems work together to accomplish tasks that until recently were considered impossible. In one documented operation, a heavy drone delivered a wheeled ARK-1 robot equipped with a TM-62 anti-tank mine. This approach allows the transport drone to remain out of range of defensive fire and electronic warfare systems while the ground robot independently covers the final stretch to the target. Ukraine has also used robotic boats to deliver tracked ground vehicles during amphibious operations, including a recent one in the Kinburn area.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian company F-Drones has unveiled a medium-class strike drone, the F-Captain, with a range of 100 kilometers, designed for use in conditions of active electronic countermeasures. With a maximum takeoff weight of 27 kilograms and a payload capacity of 10 kilograms, the system uses its own navigation software capable of operating without GPS, and is equipped with an autonomous target recognition system that ensures accurate strikes even when communications are lost.

“Systematic and precise strikes on enemy equipment and logistics” at tactical depth.

This is how F-Drones describes the niche for the F-Captain — between short-range FPV drones and costly long-range strategic platforms.