In a cramped workshop not far from the front line in northeastern Ukraine, a military mechanic with the call sign "Chimera" helps prepare his unit's robotic forces for combat, Reuters news agency reports today.
Lined up in a row, the four-wheeled unmanned vehicles known as "Hyenas" will move towards Russian lines carrying explosives, to attack an enemy hideout or stop an advance.
Similar models were also used to capture Russian soldiers, said 44-year-old Chimera, who asked to be identified by his call sign.
"Imagine what 20 kilograms of explosives means: that's very powerful. Very powerful," he said.
Workshops like this one, run by Ukraine's Third Army Corps, have sprung up along the 1.200-kilometer front as the Ukrainian army, numerically weaker than Russia, tries to gain a technological advantage in fighting off relentless Russian infantry attacks in the fifth year of the war, Reuters reports.
Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) are a key new component of Ukraine's strategy to wage war more effectively while preserving the lives of soldiers on a battlefield inundated with drones, where virtually any movement can be deadly.
Most Ukrainian brigades and regiments have unmanned systems units, which are being expanded to include ground unmanned vehicles.
Reuters visited the NC13 unit, to which Chimera belongs and which is at the forefront of using UGVs to support combat operations, to see how the integration of this new weapon is shaping the future of land warfare.
A new "revolution"
The workshop, located in a garage-like space, is crammed with experimental drones, some with tracks and others on wheels. One is fitted with a fire hose, while another is equipped with a mount for portable rocket launchers.
Brigadier General Andriy Bilecki, commander of the Third Army Corps, described the gradual replacement of infantry with unmanned ground vehicles as the next "revolution" in warfare.
The corps, considered one of Ukraine's elite formations, wants to replace about a third of its frontline soldiers with these systems by the end of the year.
"The West has in many ways slept through the drone revolution," Bilecki said, adding that infantry now performs only 10 percent of the tasks it performed before the constant aerial threat emerged.
"If the West really wants to not only keep up with the times but also be a little ahead, it needs to think about the next revolution," Bilecki said.
In areas along the front line, such as Ukraine's "fortress belt" in the Donetsk region, ground drones can often be seen transporting food or ammunition to and from besieged cities, or evacuating wounded soldiers.
This year they have carried out more than 50.000 logistics and evacuation missions, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced in June.
"Pieces of iron"
In a gray command center in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, ground drone operators from the NC13 unit, formed last year, are implementing Bilecki's vision with controllers in their hands in real time.
Sitting in front of screens showing black-and-white images from the battlefield, they showered fire on a belt of trees with a machine gun mounted on an unmanned ground vehicle.
The light of the screen and the noise of digital communication via Discord, the platform that members of the unit use to communicate with each other, give the space the atmosphere of a gaming club.
The deputy commander with the call sign "Bar" said that his unit carries out operations practically every day.
In one of them, they planted three bombs on a trailer that an unmanned vehicle had towed to a bridge used for enemy logistics, after which the bombs were detonated. In another operation, a UGV armed with a machine gun repelled an enemy attack while being attacked from above by kamikaze drones.
"It's a great recipe for me," said the 23-year-old former bartender, referring to the combined use of ground and air drones. He added that at least two prisoners surrendered to the NC13 drones.
UGVs also have limitations: They have difficulty overcoming physical obstacles and can't clear a building or trench the way an infantry unit can. They also aren't yet produced in large enough numbers to be used in swarms like aerial drones, Barr said.
However, they have already begun to replace humans in a whole range of dangerous tasks.
"They don't need food, they don't need water, they don't need logs to build shelters. Basically, we don't have to worry about them. It's a piece of iron that we're sending to do the job that we used to send soldiers to do," Barr said.
More space for "creative" commanders
While not a miracle weapon, ground drones represent another step towards the automation of warfare - which includes the analysis of battlefield data using artificial intelligence - which will allow humans to focus more on planning and decision-making, Bilecki said.
They could also influence the development of new front-line tactics, as commanders could be more prepared for bold operations that, if carried out by humans, could lead to heavy casualties.
"War is a creative activity, it is an art. Otherwise, the commander is not called a commander - but a butcher," Bilecki said.
Former commander-in-chief of Ukrainian forces Oleksandr Syrsky faced criticism for what some military personnel described as a Soviet-style leadership style, which included a high tolerance for losses.
His younger successor, Mihajlo Drapati, is seen as a reformer who is expected to promote an approach that takes more care of soldiers' lives, including by embracing new technologies.
Bilecki himself was promoted last month to help lead the defense of Ukraine's Donetsk region, giving him significantly broader operational authority.
Like most members of the NC13 unit, Deputy Commander Bar is a former infantryman who knows the brutality of ground combat well, having participated in major battles during the earlier stages of the war.
If unmanned ground vehicles had been in widespread use back then, he said, "a large number of my friends would still be alive."
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