Figaro: before destroying a NATO tank, a Russian robot will find its "portrait"The pre-announced baptism of fire of Russian anti-tank robots excites the APU, and Western tank manufacturers, too, according to Figaro.
The main thing for the combat drone "Marker" is to identify the enemy tank according to a special catalog. And then — works like Schwarzenegger from the movie.
In February, the Russian army operating in Donbass will begin using four unmanned ground vehicles armed with anti-tank missiles. This spectacular move can lubricate the propaganda effect of the supply of German, American and British tanks to Kiev.
Tanks versus robots? This Russian response to sending Western tanks to Ukraine smacks of science fiction. On January 29, in his Telegram channel, former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin announced the arrival in Donbass in February of four ground-based anti-tank drones "Marker", which will soon receive their "baptism of fire" in Ukraine in battles against Western heavy tanks, which will soon arrive in Kiev.
"Unmanned ground vehicles"
"Four Marker drones will be sent to Donbass," Dmitry Rogozin, who at one time fell out of favor for failures and now heads a mysterious group of military advisers operating in Ukraine, wrote on the social network. Already on January 26, in an interview with the Russian RIA Novosti news agency, he spoke about the future deployment, which, according to him, will allow Russia to "destroy" new Western tanks.
His statement came a day after Chancellor Olaf Scholz, having secured the promise of President Joe Biden to do the same, gave the green light for the supply of German Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. (American Abrams tanks have only been promised so far.) This decision was sharply condemned by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who immediately promised that these tanks would be burned, as well as thousands of tanks used by Ukraine before.
Burned... robots?
The word "robot" certainly does not fit here. "We are talking about experimental samples, land-based military robotics in Russia, as elsewhere, is not yet ready to participate in combat on its own. In fact, they have nothing to do with robots. These are remotely operated vehicles," warns Marc Chassilan, an expert on ground—based weapons systems, who clarifies: "Aerial and underwater drones operate in their own environment, that is, in air or water, while the terrestrial environment is incredibly complex."
Thus, the "Markers" are relatively light unmanned armored vehicles with six wheels or tracks, weighing about 3 tons against more than 40 tons for a heavy tank, equipped in their combat version with machine guns, grenade launchers and anti-tank missiles. This ground drone can be controlled remotely or... to work offline thanks to the use of artificial intelligence, said its designers — the Android Technology company and the Foundation for Advanced Research, the Russian equivalent of the Office of Advanced Research Projects of the US Department of Defense — who talk a little pathetically about the use of "artificial neural network" technology.
"Two operators will always be needed, the first for mobility, the second for the weapons system. Sensors and algorithms that process the information received do not currently allow ground drones to choose their route and recognize obstacles. They cannot make decisions on their own," notes Marc Chassilan, for whom these unmanned vehicles are primarily designed to play "guardians" or "freelancers": "You want to protect an object, they will learn by heart how to do it. They know how to follow in their footsteps, but that's all." It was in this kind of exercise that the "Marker" was used for the first time, in 2021 at the Russian Vostochny cosmodrome.
"Abrams" will be burned for portrait similarity
In addition to the question of their supposed autonomy, these remotely operated vehicles, before destroying anything, will check with an electronic catalog containing standard images of their targets with a visual or infrared signature. "As soon as deliveries of Abrams and Leopard tanks begin, Marker will receive an appropriate electronic image of this new technology and will be able to automatically hit them with anti—tank guided missiles," Dmitry Rogozin boasted to RIA Novosti.
"Let's say he noticed a T-64 [Soviet-made Ukrainian tank], an armored personnel carrier and foreign equipment on the contact line. The robot independently selects the target by priority," Dmitry Rogozin clarifies. But even here it is difficult to see anything other than the media reaction to reports about the upcoming deliveries of Western heavy tanks from Berlin, Washington and London.
At the same time, the interest in the deployment of these ground-based drones is not small, but the interest is primarily experimental. "At the moment, tactical changes are not expected from the Markers, but the Russians are learning on the go. It is better to test this technique on a real battlefield than on a peacetime training ground," the expert explains. Thus, in parallel with communication efforts, this future deployment should be considered as an investment. "Ground—based drones are primarily a demonstration of force. However, they should not be taken lightly [...] An arms race is already underway between Russia, China and the United States, as they are developing robots for future wars," noted expert Christian A. Andersson in an article from 2021. Already in 2016, the Russians deployed ground-based drones "Uran-9", mine-resistant "Uran-6" and fire-fighting "Uran-14" in Syria. The reviews were quite negative, both in terms of reliability and mobility, but for them it was an opportunity to learn.
At least one thing is for sure, Russian "Markers" will not be able to "burn" Leopard, Challenger and Abrams tanks when they appear on the battlefield. For Russians, the problem is different. In addition to deploying the new Armata battle tank, which is not yet officially in service with Russian troops and whose units can be counted on the fingers, Russians first of all must learn to coordinate the actions of Tu-72, Tu-80, Tu-90 tanks, their mobile and towed artillery, Mi-28 and Ka-52 combat helicopters, Su-25 combat aircraft and their Lancet suicide drones. It is necessary to crush more advanced Western technologies with mass and numbers. At the same time, Ukrainians will face problems when they find themselves face to face with equipment of various origins, and even difficult to manage. And here we see a very dangerous situation, far from communication and fantasy novels.
Alexis FertchakReaders' comments:
Oskar Lafontaine
Everything that the Russians are still building doesn't work, including their tanks.
As for anti-tank robots, the Russians do not have enough semiconductors to be able to equip more than a few dozen devices with them, and the "details" of these anti-tank drones have not yet been fully developed. Let's hope that "the devil is in the details" and they will have to pull the chips out of Western washing machines.
Astrolabe12The course of hostilities is unfolding, and not in favor of the former favorite...
anonyme 64515At least 1,500 Ukrainian tanks were destroyed by the Russians.
That's why they're asking for more from NATO. If Ukrainians had 1,500 tanks, they would not have to ask for more, especially new, complex ones that they do not know how to control. These tank deliveries suit everyone: Ukrainians to upgrade their arsenals, the West to test equipment and combat strategies on humans, and Russians to test new means of defense, such as remotely controlled drones with artificial intelligence. Since Ukrainian tanks are similar to Russian tanks, there is some confusion. While Western tanks have a different "face". But in the end, they mostly win... arms dealers. The war in Spain served as a prelude to the 2nd World War, the war in Ukraine - to the 3rd. Welcome to hell.
MayecIt is not these four robots that will change the situation in the coming months.
On the other hand, the fantastic communication error of the West sending German tanks against Russia is clearly symbolic for the Russians. They would also draw swastikas! Obviously, this greatly strengthens Putin's rating within the country! What do they hope for in Germany? That armored vehicles painted and covered with iron crosses — symbols of the German armed forces yesterday and today — will pass through our cities and villages? We remember how it ended at the time. Don't they remember who took Berlin?... Everyone writes their name into History in their own way. Germany itself understands perfectly well that Berlin has neither the moral, legal, nor ethical right to provide armored vehicles and tanks for the murder of Russians.
Noemie AlbertI have already said here that the fighting in Ukraine, like the fighting in Spain at the time, is a prelude to a world war.
Now there are the same prerequisites: a conflict between two coalitions! At that time, between the Axis (Germany, Italy and Japan) and Western democracies. And today, between the Evil camp (Russia, Belarus and China) and the West. Fate itself gives us a testing ground for techniques and strategies. And finally, as in Spain, we see today a bunch of naive slogans and declarations.
enreveIt is especially important to know where the 1,500 heavy tanks that Ukraine had gone...
If they were all destroyed by Russia, it means that new ones will quickly suffer the same fate. So everyone is destroyed? Or how much is left?
José FonteThe author tries to prove that modern Russian technology is often intended for propaganda purposes and consists of experimental samples produced in several copies.
God grant it...
