Tank columns are not what they used to be😅🔥
Droid TW-12.7 - a strike GRC, which is already performing combat missions of the AFU.
Tank columns are not what they used to be😅🔥
Droid TW-12.7 - a strike GRC, which is already performing combat missions of the AFU.
The fact that these have a .50 cal machine gun mounted on them is intense. That basically defeats the armor of most Russian armored vehicles that are being fielded from closer range.
In frontline combat one of those could be thrown into a risky attack against enemy armor to shed the enemy armor of externally mounted electronics warfare and anti-drone protection with a burst of .50 cal fire. Even if the Russian armor quickly destroys the .50 cal UGV, it is now a sitting duck for FPV attack and artillery spotting since the outside of the armor just got a lead shower and is now functionally naked on the modern battlefield.
I think these are more useful for small unit logistics and clearing operations but given the creativity and sophistication of Ukrainian drone pilots I wouldn’t be surprised if Ukraine became very effective at this kind of “one two punch” on Russian armor.
In general I could see heavy machine gun operators moving to these platforms for most risky fire missions not in urban terrain just because operating the big loud angry thing from 100 meters away is probably a hell of a lot safer than being right behind it when a counter attack comes (particulary mortars and artillery).
I don’t think these would be very useful in frontal assaults, since they aren’t armored and would be vulnerable to small arms themselves. I think they are more useful as distractions, such as driving them forward to provide suppressing fire so that the ukrainians can reposition to gain an advantage.
The Ukrainians seem to disagree, here’s an article from over a year ago of their first fully robotic combined arms assault, complete with minelaying aerial drones, groundbased suicide bots and those things. The article also mentions one of these units being used in September last year for clearing of a trench. Weak points only seem to be the optical sensors, but in combination with air surveillance drones you might still be able to get use out of one when the sensors are damaged. But it’s really about taking the risk away from their soldiers, and you can do that very well with these things.
eta: the development is real quick btw. first live test in september to combined arms assault in december is pretty bonkers
If these would be as successful as implied, we’d have seen lots and lots of videos of them in operation, from both sides.
Sure, these might work in some small operations but nothing changes the fact that these are far too easily disabled by small arms fire, cheap drones, even anti-personnel mines etc. Now if they’d have their own air defence (small radar/camera array + shotgun), be faster and more agile and someone would be able to solve the control issues under jamming (with God forbid something else than AI), then maybe, maybe these would make a difference in the frontline too.
But until then, only useful outside the drone threat in the rear, or in some diversion missions.
I disagree, these are perfect for heavy recon where you expect to make heavy, possibly existential (for both forces) contact with an enemy while they are delaying ambush/contact to maximize the conditions for damage.
In frontline high intensity combat the role of these isn’t to be robot infantry that somehow beats highly trained humans, it is to force Russians to make a choice. As a Russian do you settle for having the timing of an ambush thrown off by an annoying robot driving right through the optimum kill zone of overlapping fire and opening fire on it having given away your position and the overall tactical initiative without having even made contact with the actual Ukrainian infantry yet?
Do you just let the stupid robot keep driving through and hope it doesn’t spot you? What if the Ukrainian infantry hidden nearby spot some of your defenders and the robot turns and unloads a .50 cal on them before you can launch the ambush?
Do you abandon your position to remain hidden until you can create a chokepoint where the Ukrainian infantry the robot is supporting are exposed?
Do you just sit there and hope the robot doesn’t see you? What if it already has and instead of firing the operator decided to give your exact location to a mortar team and keep driving as if they never saw you?
This is why a robot like this is useful in frontline contexts, heavy reconnaisance and making contact with an extremely entrenched and camoflaged enemy is a brutal job and infantry doesn’t tend to live that long doing it as a lot of the time no matter how careful they are, the enemy will hold fire if they are smart until the exact moment reconnaisance stands no chance of surviving contact.
Well, when it is a robot, who really cares if it survives contact or not? What matters is there wasn’t some human being out front who dies immediately and stood zero chance of being able to respond in time.