The war or as Russia calls it “special operation” in Ukraine continues unabated. Although the war began back in 2014, this latest more brutal phase began in 2022 with the Russian armed forces moving directly into the main Ukrainian territory rather than fighting through proxy militias.
The conflict has since ground to a bloody stalemate, and the grim truth is that Ukraine is running low on materiel, and most importantly the country is running low on man power.
This most recent phase of the war has shown that autonomous weapons will play an important role in any future conflict.
Both sides are using first person drones, relatively cheap drones built from off the shelf components strapped with explosives to inflict devastating losses against each other.
Russia relies on drones because their economy is becoming increasingly crippled by punishing sanctions, reducing their ability to build and deploy conventional weapons while Ukraine relies on drones as they are cheap and easy to produce in large numbers and they are proving highly effective as a substitute to artillery shells, of which there is a global shortage.
Ukraines latest plan is to build a fleet of up to 15000 robotic vehicles to perform a variety of roles such as logistics, battlefield evacuation and offensive missions.
This strategy isn’t without challenges. The first being cost. Robotic ground vehicles are a lot more expensive than drones and require specialised hardware that takes longer to source and assemble.
There have also been issues with reliability. A recent trial with Chinese based quadruped robots had issues with the vehicles getting stuck in the mud.
Robotic missions also require an increased level of support staff. An unmanned mission may require an operator, some kind of navigator and technicians on standby. There is also a requirement for other autonomous vehicles to provide defensive support.
Despite the setbacks, this new automated phase of the war is still very much in its infancy and significant advancements have been made on the software side helped by the growth of AI driven software reducing the need for human input. Each mission also provides valuable data for improving software, hardware and most importantly battlefield tactics going forward.
Ukraine has already been using automated machine gun turrets to defend positions without having to put valuable soldiers at risk. Although machines are costly replacements are far easier than replacing lost personnnel.
Ultimately all the key arms manufacturers are watching developments in this space with keen interest and the rise of automated warfare is set to give rise to many legal and ethical issues.
Against the backdrop of Ukraine’s precarious situation we can expect those concerns to be on the back burner for some time.
