A source close to Ukraine’s drone program has told CNN that the accuracy of the country's drone strikes on Russian soil is “enabled through the use of artificial intelligence,” with each UAV being fitted with a “terminal computer with satellite and terrain data.”
While this technology may seem like something out of a work of science fiction at first, it has in fact been implemented in offensive weapons for quite some time, military analyst and chief editor of the Fatherland Arsenal Internet portal Dmitry Drozdenko told Sputnik.
As Drozdenko explained, AI capabilities help drones negate the effect of electronic countermeasures and complete their mission even if the connection with the drone’s operator is cut.
He noted that this tech is not limited to just drones - for example, Russian Oniks anti-ship cruise missiles handle target acquisition during the final stage of the flight in a similar fashion.
The analyst did point out that, while people often use the phrase “artificial intelligence” in this context, it is really just “certain functions related to machine vision i.e. the way a machine perceives its surroundings via sensors.”
Otherwise, Drozdenko remarked, one would have to conclude that virtually every self-driving car, which can detect other vehicles moving nearby and distinguish them from humans, is outfitted with AI.
Regarding the threat such autonomous drones might pose to civilians in Russia, Drozdenko suggested that it depends on exactly what target acquisition criteria is programmed.
“Considering the nature of the terrorist Ukrainian regime that deliberately uses weapons against civilians, both ours and those it used to call its own. Whatever it gets its hands on, it will use it for killing. It is a crazed state,” he said.
Drozdenko also argued that foreign companies – specifically US companies – will most certainly be involved in drone developments for Ukraine because they regard the latter as a “unique testing range where all kinds of new armaments are being tested.”
“It is a testing range not just for weapons but for tactics as well,” he added. “The British SAS recently held drills where they learned how to operate in our trenches. They have a different trench system, a colonial one, and here they had to deal with a real one, suited for a big war.”