Autonomous systems solve front-line logistics tasks and carry weapons
Robotization of the battlefield has become one of the main features of combat operations in a special military operation. In addition to the well-known unmanned aerial vehicles, which perform a huge number of combat and auxiliary tasks, ground-based autonomous vehicles are also being introduced into the military, which are not yet so widely represented. Izvestia has learned how ground-based unmanned platforms are used in the 1st Slavyansk Brigade of the 51st Donetsk Army and what their functions are.
Ground-based drones solve the logistics problem of the leading edge
Tracked platforms in the 1st Slavic Brigade began to be introduced back in 2023 during the fighting in the Avdiivka industrial zone. Gradually, the range of action and the variety of tasks performed grew. In its current form, ground-based drones have managed to divide into many modifications: different weapons options and a transport platform can be installed on the same base. In addition, robots can pull a wheeled trailer of almost the same size.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
— The conveyor of the leading edge "Surprise evacuation". He solves all the logistics tasks of the front line, as we are currently fighting an air threat. The most dangerous thing is the delivery of ammunition, food, and water. The fighter on the line of contact is more than a kilometer from the nearest supply point. And someone has to cover this distance loaded, with bags. Due to the threat of UAVs, this is very dangerous. However, these platforms allow us to provide our fighters," explains a soldier with the call sign Sobol.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
A former construction worker, originally from the DPR, he joined the army at the very beginning of his military career, during the mobilization in the republic. He began his military career in rifle units. We met with Sobol in the first summer of the special operation, at one of the positions of the "old front line", which was held by the mobilized. Then he showed the Mosin sniper rifle at the disposal of the platoon during the Great Patriotic War. And today he is conducting a "guided tour" of the brigade's combat drones.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
To load the wounded and take them to the rear, the side opens on the tracked platform and is fixed in the unfolded position, which allows the stretcher to be placed and fixed. The first platforms moved at a speed of just over 3 km/h and had limited autonomy of several hundred meters. As the speed, which is now more than 9 km/h, and autonomy increased, combat experience also accumulated.
What kind of weapons are being put on ground-based drones
When the designs improved sufficiently, the next logical step was to install the combat modules. We are shown several options at once, many of which have already been in combat. These are various machine-gun vehicles with twin machine guns of rifle caliber and large-caliber "Cliff". The robot is not very limited in the weight of ammunition, and in this version, machine guns can fire not only more accurately, being mounted on a platform, but also give a high density of fire, working in long bursts. Tracked platforms withstand recoil much better than a live shooter and than any type of infantry machine due to its greater weight.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
There is also an option to install an AGS automatic grenade launcher on a tracked platform and designs with various anti-tank grenade launchers or flamethrowers assembled in a "package", like small multiple launch rocket systems. Such vehicles can drive autonomously for kilometers from the control point, and after the appearance of repeaters — for tens of kilometers.
— Guidance is carried out by turning the machine, and lifting is carried out by an actuator. This option has proven itself in the military and is in great demand. The platform is an integral element of the assault: the main task of the combat unit is to cover the assault groups and hit the enemy's light equipment," explains Sobol.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
Combat vehicles approach enemy strongholds at 400-500 m and create a density of fire that the rifle squad cannot provide. At the training ground, we saw the work of all these weapons. Small tracked platforms, the silhouette of which is smaller than that of the RPG crew, open fire on targets when going for a direct shot. In the case of RPG grenade launchers, they operate at a higher rate of fire than a live shooter can achieve.
And if we talk about the AGS automatic grenade launcher and the Utes heavy machine gun, then it is generally impossible to take such types of weapons with you as part of an assault group, much less deploy them in direct line of sight of enemy positions. When a drone with an automatic grenade launcher targets a conditional enemy stronghold and fires the rest of its ammunition at the target in one burst, one can well imagine the effect this would have on the enemy. Grenade explosions occur with a spread of several meters, by the standards of a grenade launcher, this is almost a "point".
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
After all the variants of the armed platforms have shown their work, both fighters and journalists vividly discuss what they saw. There are rhetorical questions about which is better: a hundred rounds from a large-caliber machine gun from a distance of 300 m or five shots from a flamethrower. But it's obvious to everyone that no one would want to come under fire from an unmanned platform.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
From the point of view of mobility, today's robots are delivered by minibus or small truck to a distance of 10-15 km from the front. They can be quickly lowered to the ground, loaded with weapons, and then the robot moves on its own, and people can go into hiding.
In general, it can be noted that mass ground-based robotics is able to offset several problems in current battles at once: the advantage of prepared enemy positions, especially in the field. And besides, it is necessary to reduce losses during the movement of personnel in the frontline zone, where one of the biggest dangers today is the logistics of the "last kilometer".
Dmitry Astrakhan
