14 Mar 2025 Search

How Ukraine integrates machine vision in battlefield drones by Oleksandr Matviienko, Bohdan Miroshnychenko & Zoriana Semenovych. In November 2024, the government procured 3,000 FPV drones with machine vision and targeting technologies. Reports also suggested that the procurement would be expanded to 10,000 units.

Preparing for the next European war by Azeem Azhar. One challenge will be the simple rate of innovation in the actual battlefield. Drone warfare in Ukraine has shown iteration cycles measuring weeks not years. So any systems procured today need to be future-proofed for those dynamics.

Thread by Trent Telenko The logistical facts are that the FM-MAG machine gun, the 60 mm & 81mm mortars, LAWS, Javelins, any infantry crew served weapon you care to name are all going to be most to fully replaced with drones and drone operators, because of the logistical leverage drones represent on the battlefield.

Long-range drone strikes weakening Russia’s combat ability, senior Ukrainian commander says by Deborah Haynes. Some of the drones are remotely piloted, others work via autopilot. Russia’s war has forced Ukraine to use technology and innovation to fight back against its far more powerful foe. It has accelerated the use of autonomous machines in an irreversible transformation of the warzone that everyone is watching and learning from. Brigadier Shchygol said: Right now, Ukraine’s battlefield experience is essentially a manual for the world.

Ukraine Drives Next Gen Robotic Warfare by Mick Ryan. Another more interesting trend has arisen which will force policy makers and military strategists to undertake an even more careful analysis of Ukraine war trends, and how these trends apply in other theatres, particularly the Pacific. This trend, robotic teaming, has emerged over the past year with the advent on drone-on-drone combat in the air and on the ground. In particular, several recent combat actions in Ukraine provide insights that need to be studied and translated for their employment in the massive ocean expanses, tens of thousands of kilometres of littoral, thousands of large and small islands and at least three continents that constitute the Pacific theatre.

DEEP DIVE: Taiwan miltech aims to undermine Chinese components by Tim Mak. Taiwan has learnt the central tech lesson from the war in Ukraine: the next global conflicts will heavily feature cheap, small drones—and in large numbers. So as an electronics and hardware component giant—especially relative to its size and diplomatic status—it is trying not only to develop a domestic industry, but also become an arsenal for the free world, building drones and devices for allied militaries worldwide.

Why America fell behind in drones, and how to catch up again by Cat Orman and Jason Lu. Also Building Drones for Developers: A uniquely open architecture on the F-11 means that every part of the drone is truly built around the [NVIDIA] Orin [GPU]. This enables sophisticated autonomy applications in which ML models are able to not only analyze data obtained in-flight, but actually use that analysis to inform flight actions in real time.