The Ukrainian army has conducted a test with fully autonomous combat drones, according to the news portal 24tv. The unmanned aerial vehicles were able to independently identify and attack targets – without a human operator intervening.
Ukrainian drone developer Oleksandr Kochanowskyj, CEO of Aero Center, told NewScientist that the experiment took place about two years ago in the area of Bakhmut and Chasiv Yar. At that time, a Ukrainian counteroffensive was underway. For the test, the army used ten quadcopters with a so-called Terminator mode. After launch, the operators lost all control over the drones. “We just launched them and knew that everything would be destroyed. Everything found in that specific zone will be eliminated,” Kochanowskyj said. “There is no connection to the drone at all, you don’t see any video, nothing.”
After the mission, Ukrainian forces sent conventional, remote-controlled drones to assess the damage. According to Kochanowskyj, they found killed Russian soldiers and destroyed equipment. The test is considered one of the first documented uses of fully autonomous weapon systems in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Source: 24tv.ua
