Russian forces are integrating AI capabilities into their Lancet series of attack drones, Ukraine's military intelligence directorate (GUR) revealed on 23 March. One of these drones was shot down over Kyiv last week.
While the drone must be steered by pilots in real time, the Russians are “trying to introduce elements of autonomous guidance,” GUR wrote in the statement. This also applies to the Lancet’s smaller cousin, called the Scalpel.
This tech was previously spotted in Russia’s obscure V2U drone, which is a semi-autonomous loitering munition, as well as Russia’s Geran series of attack drones, better known by their original Iranian name: the Shahed.
This is “evidence of joint work between the Russian Federation and Iran on their modernization,” GUR wrote. “The technologies used today against Ukraine pose a potential threat to other regions of the world.”
Russia and Iran are strategic partners. On top of helping Tehran modernize its arsenal, Moscow is supplying spare parts for weapons and providing intelligence to help Iran against the US and Israel.
The Kremlin’s Shahed terror strike campaign is built on Iranian technology — Moscow imported thousands of attack drones from Iran before building their own production lines and progressively making them deadlier.
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The Lancet can be configured for both recon and attack. It has a long, torpedo-like hull, with two sets of X-shaped wings, and is produced by ZALA Group, part of the Kalashnikov defense conglomerate.
According to GUR, the AI modules in this machine are “based on” the Nvidia Jetson, a popular computing board designed for AI and robotics.
AI-assisted weapons developers have told Euromaidan Press that Nvidia boards are useful for adding battlefield autonomy to weapons, but are expensive, especially if the drones that use them are meant to be expendable. Ukrainians often use cheaper solutions like Raspberry Pi, augmented with extra memory.
Of the 62 electronic parts that go into Lancets and Scalpels, most are of foreign origin — primarily USA, Switzerland, and China, according to GUR. Russia regularly acquires foreign tech to use in its weapons, thanks to porous, poorly-enforced sanctions and a plethora of shell companies registered in other countries.
“Russia retains access to critically important technologies and continues to improve its own weapons,” GUR wrote. “Even such technological products as modules for solutions based on artificial intelligence remain available to it.”
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Race for AI weapons
Russia and Ukraine are racing to develop autonomous weapons. Both sides are making progress.
While fully-autonomous weapons are still out of reach, task-level autonomy like auto tracking, assisted navigation, and vision-based locking is already being on the battlefield, and is becoming incrementally more effective.
This includes interceptor and FPV drones that can lock on and pursue their targets. Autoturret gun platforms are becoming increasingly viable on the battlefield.
Ukrainian UAVs can navigate through terrain image matching for both close flights and deep strikes into Russia and it appears that Russia is also testing this technology with its Lancet drones.
Ukraine’s former top commander, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said that Ukraine must win this race no later than 2027.
