Ukraine wants 50,000 ground robots. Its forces already field 550 kinds
Ground robots are replacing soldiers on exposed routes and assault missions, but Ukraine must now standardize the machines it rushed into combat.
Ground robots are replacing soldiers on exposed routes and assault missions, but Ukraine must now standardize the machines it rushed into combat.
Ukraine plans to produce at least 50,000 combat and logistics unmanned ground vehicles in 2026 to reinforce infantry units and cover manpower shortages, Bloomberg reported Aug. 4. Ukraine's defense ministry ordered 25,000 UGVs in the first half of the year.
The machines already perform assault work. On the Dobropillia axis in eastern Donetsk, the 93rd Separate Mechanised Brigade sent a flamethrower-armed robot to burn Russian positions along a tree line. Machine-gun crews then cleared the survivors, Bloomberg detailed.
On July 13, the 123rd Separate Territorial Defense Brigade landed a machine-gun-armed Wolly 7.62 from a marine drone on the Kinburn Spit. The robot struck Russian coastal positions and self-destructed, per UNITED24 Media. Ukrainian ground robots completed a record 16,676 battlefield missions in June.
Marcus Schuler
Marcus Schuler edits BattlePolicy, a daily defense-technology brief connecting the companies and capabilities behind modern war to the contest among Europe, the US, Russia, and China.