Discussion
Ukrainian Combat Robot Holds Frontline Position for Six Weeks in Sign of Growing UGV Maturity
roysting: This smells more like military propagand, i.e., bullshit.There is no way this is honest or real, i.e., it somehow fought off a tactical unit trying to take the frontline that this drone was holding.Just by virtue of its nature a single drone and/or a well placed dumb grenade, not even to mention likely a smoke grenade could have easily taken this thing out within seconds of deployment if there was any interest in taking the area this toy was "controlling".Someone is doing a literal con job to get military graft and fraud contracts.
outside2344: We really are trying our best to make Terminator reality aren't we?
andrewstuart: Is there some sort of hybrid flying/stationary drone that flys in an sits to hold a ground position?
CrzyLngPwd: This is on my 2026 bingo card of things that never happened.
garganzol: Yep, until it hits you.
kakacik: There are real videos, even months old of exactly these 'land drones', equipped with good ol' .50 cal. In certain situations, they fought extremely well given no risk for crew. I mean killing off entire bmp-something transport including all crew with AP rounds, typically during night since it has night vision, zoom and so on. Verified also by drone flying nearby.Now I am not claiming all the facts stated in the article are verified by me, but I can imagine one of them got so lucky with drones and getting hidden from their view for prolonged time it could theoretically pull it off. Not sure about batteries/fuel/ammo part thought.
gclawes: Are these the ones controlled by Steam Decks?
konchunas: These ones by PS5 controllers I believe
throwaway85825: The proportion of videos featuring drones taking out other drones is increasing.
k__: Maybe drones will make human soldiers unacceptable in the future.
theptip: They will certainly make human soldiers unviable. (I draw mostly dystopian conclusions from that prediction.)
Animats: This is a standard unit from DevDroid.[1] Here's the marketing video.[2] It's available for pre-order. They also have a model with a grenade launcher.[1] https://devdroid.tech/en/catalog/droid-tw[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oay_-cAlLXE
mrhottakes: My car also held position for 6 weeks during the winter storms
WhatsTheBigIdea: Perhaps it would be helpful to view the claims of this article through a cost/benefit analysis?Clearly if the opponent had wanted to defeat this vehicle and take this ground, they could have.That said, it seems likely that this vehicle substantially increased the expected cost of taking this ground, and it did so at very little cost/risk to the defenders.This sort of device dramatically changes the equation of conflict. It seems this article does a pretty good (though unverified) job of making that case.
aprentic: Reading between the lines of the article it seems advanced but not too surprising.I assume that at night when it "withdrew to a covered location" there was opportunity for maintenance, battery swaps, etc.The article says that it successfully carried out "multiple calls for fire." That sounds like over those 45 days there were multiple missions to provide suppressive fire. They're not explicit about what that means but it sounds like, "if you see anything moving in this arc, take a few shots at them". Presumably there's some AI to prevent it from wasting ammo on really dumb decoys.A "simple" mobile automated turret has been around for a while. The novelty they would be demonstrating is essentially battlefield robustness. They aren't claiming that this machine can operate completely autonomously for 6 weeks but the incremental pieces are still hard.
SirFatty: Not a drone...
tantalor: How is it not a drone?
crazygringo: Are these called drones? I thought drones flew.The article calls this a "Ukrainian unmanned ground vehicle armed with a machine gun" and the headline calls it a "Ukrainian Combat Robot". Not a "drone" like the submitter's title has.Edit: it seems like the creator calls it a "droid". Is that just them, or is that becoming standard terminology for a kind of ground-based "soldier-robot"? See:https://devdroid.tech/en/catalog/droid-tw
tart-lemonade: The <title> tag is "Ukrainian Drone Holds Position for 6 Weeks". OP probably hit the "fetch title" button or copy-pasted from a chat app embed when submitting.
AftHurrahWinch: "It takes infantry to hold territory" is still true I guess, but now it's a single operator in a bunker.
verdverm: Perhaps in the dead man zone, not sure this would work well where there is civilian population.
bee_rider: I haven’t heard “dead man zone” (although I don’t really engage much with military stuff so maybe it is just an expression I’m not familiar with).I think “no man’s land” is a pretty popular and similar expression. Out of curiosity, did you translate “dead man zone” from another language?I just find it interesting because it seems conceptually similar but much bleaker, so if it comes from, like, French or German or something maybe it reflects an even bleaker WW1 experience.
verdverm: > I haven’t heard “dead man zone”It's the space between trenches. I've been watching a WW1 chronological documentary where they use it, but it's also been said in various ways, as you say.Said playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB2vhKMBjSxOb_127vxja...Time Ghost makes awesome chrono documentaries for the major wars.
krunck: Why is no one using EMP devices against drones?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse#Non-nucl...
alephnerd: They are. EW and IR C-UAS has been productionized over the past few years, but there are still supply chain and cost blockers around power electronics.
hkpack: [delayed]
lokar: AIUI, a current common tactic for the Russians is sending many small groups of untrained "solders" out probe the front lines and try to penetrate undefended spots. They take a ton of casualties, but some make it through, and they gradually build up, and then try to take action.
dmos62: Someone here said "[Russian] tactical units", "smoke grenades". They must be joking.A drone like this is defending against 2-3 50-year-olds without military experience wading through a bombed out tree-line into almost certain death, because there are literal firing squads waiting if they don't. With a huge round like 12.7, all you have to do is fire pot shots in the general vicinity while drone pilots do the rest. Also, these can be life-savers for an outpost when weather conditions ground all drones.This is a fluff piece, but these machines might become very real very soon. They're already used for resupply and dropping mines. We have plenty of videos of that from both sides. A few months ago we had a video of one of these taking out an infantry carrier. This is not vaporware. It's a bad approach at worst, but I wouldn't be surprised if this grows exponentially for many years to come.
chasil: Can we name them The Dinochrome Brigade?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolo:_Annals_of_the_Dinochrome...
aleksiy123: It seems like there could actually be a difference between them?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_man_zone - is related to bush fires but seems like it could apply to a battlefield?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_man%27s_landSomething more akin to actually being in "measure" or strike distance vs just contested territory in between?Edit: Sibling comment I think clears it up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_zone
aogaili: At this point might as well just play strategy video game and call it a day?Both sides staring at screens, controlling drones fighting each other.. why use physical drones at all? abstract it away and play video game?In the near future, war might be about who can build faster/better and hit the other economy more effectively, and those who can't produce any more drones, lose.If you think about, we moved human one-on-one battles to MMA and combat sport, this allowed channeling individual human aggression in a controlled environment. The future war might be not very different, swarm of drones fighting other swarm of drones while others watching on the news, who can build, manage and deploy smarter and more effective drones. If one side economy collapses and their manufacturing collapse, then what is left? they could easily kill the people, but other nations won't allow it, so it will stop at economical defeat.
neonstatic: > abstract it away and play video game?What happens when one side wins? In the real world, they actually win. In the video game, nothing happens> In the near future, war might be about who can build faster/better and hit the other economy more effectivelyIn other words, in the near future it might work the exact way it has always worked.> they could easily kill the people, but other nations won't allow it, so it will stop at economical defeat.Your ideas are based on the idea of winning in a closed-system game. War is waged by people. Some people actually want the other people to die.
