Ukrainian officials see ground robots as ‘game changer’ in war

MILAN — Ukrainian officials are receiving an increasing amount of applications from robotics vendors who want their systems tested for utility in combat, a sign that unmanned ground capabilities are growing in importance amid the relative stalemate along the front line with Russia.

Officials at Brave1, a government defense-technology hub tasked with getting new capabilities field-ready, announced that more than 50 ground robotic systems and more 140 unmanned ground vehicles have been submitted for evaluation.

“Hundreds of them will be procured through United24 to strengthen the Ukrainian army on the battlefield in a few months – UGVs will become the next game changer in this war, [like] drones already have,” a March 12 Brave1 statement circulated on the organization’s social media channels said. United24 is Ukrainian government-run platform for collecting donations for the embattled country.

In the last year, an increasing number of these types of platforms have emerged on the battlefield, being used and tested for a widening array of missions. Ukrainian social media channels recently published footage reportedly showing a UGV capable of laying six anti-tank mines at a time.

In pictures posted online by Brave1, a variety of small-scale tracked and wheeled ground robots are seen on the move, armed with guns, evacuating injured dummies and equipped with what appears to be mine-detection equipment.

A trend emerging in Ukrainian unmanned robots is that the majority are rather small and lighter than many others offered on the international market.

“Using high-tech solutions ahead of the enemy in terms of efficiency, innovation and price gives Ukraine an advantage on the battlefield – such hardware and software products are asymmetric responses capable of changing the configuration in a confrontation with the overwhelming resources of the enemy,” Nataliia Kushnerska, project lead at Brave1 told Defense News in an email statement.

“Ukraine has become a global defense tech hub, and the growth of this sector will play a critical role in Ukrainian defense policy for decades to come,” she added.

A substantial number of munitions and explosives used by Russian and Ukrainian troops remain unexploded, posing a threat to soldiers and civilians. According to some estimates , approximately 174,000 square kilometers of Ukraine was estimated to be contaminated with landmines as of April 2023.

Part of the push to accelerate the development of UGVs has been the desire to send robots for the dangerous job of removing live munitions left on the battlefield.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

米兰——越来越多的机器人供应商向乌克兰官员提交申请，希望测试其系统在战斗中的实用性。这表明，在与俄罗斯的前线相对僵持的情况下，无人地面作战能力的重要性日益凸显。

负责将新技术应用于实战的政府国防技术中心 Brave1 的官员宣布，已有 50 多个地面机器人系统和 140 多辆无人地面车辆提交评估。

“几个月后，将通过United24平台采购数百辆无人地面车辆，以增强乌克兰军队在战场上的实力——无人地面车辆将成为这场战争的下一个转折点，就像无人机已经做到的那样，”Brave1组织3月12日在其社交媒体渠道上发布的一份声明中写道。United24是乌克兰政府运营的为这个饱受战火蹂躏的国家筹集捐款的平台。

过去一年，这类平台在战场上的数量不断增加，并被用于执行日益广泛的任务。乌克兰社交媒体账号近日发布了一段视频，据称视频显示一种无人地面车辆能够一次布设六枚反坦克地雷。

Brave1 在网上发布的照片​​中可以看到各种小型履带式和轮式地面机器人正在移动，它们配备有枪支，正在撤离受伤的假人，并且配备了看起来像是地雷探测设备的东西。

乌克兰无人机器人的一个发展趋势是，大多数无人机器人比国际市场上许多其他无人机器人要小巧轻便。

“在效率、创新和价格方面领先于敌人使用高科技解决方案，使乌克兰在战场上占据优势——此类硬件和软件产品是不对称的应对措施，能够在与敌人压倒性资源对抗时改变局面，”Brave1 项目负责人 Nataliia Kushnerska 在一封电子邮件声明中告诉《防务新闻》。

她补充说：“乌克兰已成为全球国防科技中心，该行业的增长将在未来几十年对乌克兰国防政策发挥关键作用。”

大量俄罗斯和乌克兰军队使用的弹药和爆炸物仍未爆炸，对士兵和平民构成威胁。据估计，截至2023年4月，乌克兰约有17.4万平方公里的土地被地雷污染。

推动无人地面车辆 (UGV) 加速发展的部分原因是希望派遣机器人执行清除战场上遗留实弹的危险任务。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。