1/ QUICK TAKE: Appreciate the thread by @WarintheFuture yesterday that highlighted key points in current and future combat UGV development that we can discern form this video. Would like to add the following points as well. Firsts, what we are witnessing is a rapid...
2/ ...proliferation of smaller, lighter combat and logistics UGVs across the front at this point in the war, with many coming from DIY-type projects by soldiers themselves and different volunteer organizations supporting the war effort. These are less simple designs that can be quickly put together.
3/ With so many FPV and quadcopter drones operating in tactical engagements in Ukraine, such UGVs can be quickly identified, tracked and ultimately destroyed. Therefore, it’s likely that other UGV types fielded in the coming months are not going to be large, sophisticated...
4/ ...and expensive UGV designs that were tested and evaluated by the Russian military prior to its invasion of Ukraine, or even as recently as early 2023, as with its Marker combat UGV series. At this point, larger vehicles can be easy targets. mwi.westpoint.edu/bureaucrats-ga…
5/ What we will witness is the use of many, cheap, light UGVs like those in this video that can be quickly put together, potentially quickly lost if necessary, and quickly replaced.
6/ Moreover, it’s not clear in this video if these UGVs were sent instead of solders, or together with soldier units in a combined arms formation. As more UGVs will enter combat, both sides will try to develop tactics and concepts for integrating them in assault/battlefield operations.
7/ The key tactic will be to send these combat vehicles ahead of or instead of soldiers to take humans out of dangerous situations – this is a whole point behind developing such systems.
8/ Finally, it’s very likely that these Russian UGVs were remote controlled, and once the cameras and sensors were incapacitated, it became very difficult for the UGV operators to pilot and maneuver these vehicles. Both sides in this war working on more autonomous operations...
9/ ...for such machines, and Russia claimed to run several R&D efforts in years past focusing on integrating aerial and ground unmanned assets. Once (or if) such UGV technology becomes as commonplace as FPVs and commercial quadcopters...
10/ ...the next development stage could be more/fully autonomous UGVs operating on their own. One of the reasons that we have not witnessed such autonomous UGV operations is the difficulty of developing training models and datasets for a complex battlefield terrain...
11/ ...such as in Ukraine right now that is teeming with countermeasures that are both man-made (like drones and weapons) as well as basic natural obstacles that such UGVs cannot yet overcome without additional and possibly costly assistance. Stay tuned for more...
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