Allies plan to arm Ukraine with thousands of AI drones

Allies plan to arm Ukraine with thousands of AI drones (photo: Getty Images)

The UK is working with countries, including the United States, to equip Ukraine with thousands of new artificial intelligence drones.

Western military planners who develop the technology believe that it will allow Ukraine to suppress certain enemy positions with the aforementioned UAVs. They noted that the drones could be delivered to Kyiv within the next few months, but the deadline could still be violated.

“Drones have become increasingly important in the Russia-Ukraine war as the conflict approaches the two-year mark, and a global race is ongoing to develop new technologies that could shape the future of warfare. Russia is ramping up its own domestic production of battle drones to support the invasion and has received significant supplies from its ally Iran,” the media explained.

The attention to UAVs comes at a time when Ukraine is facing an artillery shortage that could become critical over the next three months, and the military may have to decide to focus on a narrower war front.

“While new drone capabilities do not replace the urgent need for shells, they may help mitigate some of that shortfall and create a new dynamic on the battlefield, the people said,” Bloomberg writes.

As one of the sources explained, artificial intelligence drones will be deployed in large fleets that will communicate with each other to target enemy positions without the need for a human operator to control each one.

Drones for Ukraine

On December 12, 2023, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and his Latvian counterpart Andris Spruds discussed the creation of a drone coalition. The Ukrainian official thanked the Latvian side for the initiative. As Spruds said in January, more than 20 countries have already joined the drone coalition.

According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, a group of NATO countries wants to provide one million drones to Ukrainian defenders as part of military assistance.

According to Umerov, the drone coalition was officially launched on February 17.