15 August 2024

Someday, soldiers may step onto battlefields fearing swarms of AI-driven drones with the capability to seek them out, target their positions, and deliver lethal attacks. 

That day is not today.

"The issue of correct identification of enemy targets by drones still remains," said Viktoria Kovalchuk, a spokesperson for Brave1, a Ukrainian government institute tasked with producing AI weapons.

New combat strategies for Ukrainian drone forces are becoming urgent, as Russian defensive measures to jam drones are proving to be very successful. In fact, Ukraine is reportedly seeing thousands of drones per month fall victim to Russian jamming technology. As these jamming devices typically sever the connection between a drone and its controller/pilot, Ukraine is looking for AI solutions that don't require that pilot/drone link. The goal is that AI tracking systems can take over, autonomously decide on an action, and avoid any reliance on a vulernable radio-control signal.

"Drones equipped with AI-assisted targeting modules do not require a connection to the operator during the engagement phase," said Kovalchuk. "The operator locks onto the target, then the AI takes over the targeting process independently, making it immune to enemy electronic warfare interference."

As they prepare and produce their own AI-drone technologies, the United States and China have been carefully watching the war in Ukraine, and the use of drones to rain hellfire on enemy combatants. It is assumed, for example, that China may be developing drone swarms to contribute to any potential conflicts regarding Taiwan.

"The U.S. has been carefully paying attention to the use of drones in Ukraine and is investing a lot in production of small, cheap. and disposable drones in its Replicator program," says Rutgers University professor Michael Boyle. who has written a book on drone warfare. "They are more confident that wars will be fast, lethal, and fought with a blizzard of small drones in the future."

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