The main interest of drones in combat is to entrust them with missions that are difficult to carry out by human troops: too complex, of course, but also too dangerous. We recently learned that an armed Ukrainian robot had contained the assaults of Russian troops for 45 days. A new video relayed by Business Insider reveals a completely different mission: a ground drone transported an injured Ukrainian soldier. Hit by a Russian drone, he was able to protect the man before removing him from the combat zone.
This case is not isolated and is rather part of a growing phenomenon in the conflict, the Ukrainian army using robots to rescue its soldiers, provide them with ammunition, care, and offer them protection against enemy fire. The use of ground drones to evacuate the wounded on the battlefield keeps medical teams away from these dangerous areas, but sometimes exposes the evacuee to further attacks.
The 1er medical battalion of the Ukrainian ground forces posted this video on its Instagram account. Since the journey to bring the man back to safety was approximately 58 kilometers, the battalion decided to send a robot controlled remotely by soldiers positioned far from the front.
The limits of these robot soldiers
The man injured in a Russian attack is placed inside the armored robot, itself hit on the way by another enemy kamikaze drone, without causing further injury to the soldier. The battalion specifies that the robot was being repaired, following damage caused by Russian FPVs.
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Many companies are developing the Ukrainian robot fleet. Soldiers are trained to be able to repair and adapt these machines directly in the field in order to save precious time. However, this rescue method presents risks, particularly if the machine does not have protective cages like the one used during this evacuation. The robots are prime targets for swarms of ubiquitous Russian drones, and can draw attention to an injured man being evacuated.
Although ground robots currently represent less than 1% of Ukrainian drone missions, their use is increasing. Mining or mine clearance missions, offensives in support of infantry or defensive maintenance of a position, their versatility and robustness make them a definite asset.
Faced with this observation, other countries are experimenting and developing prototypes of unmanned vehicles inspired by the Ukrainian model. If they are not close to competing with the thousands of aerial drones used every week in Ukraine, ground drones are only in their infancy and could soon prove indispensable.
