Ukraine deploys AI turrets to intercept Russian jet drones

Ukraine has started intercepting Russian jet drones using heavy machine guns mounted on turrets controlled by artificial intelligence, the Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson announced on Monday. This country has been looking for several months for a solution to counter these drones massively used by Russia since the summer.

Much faster than conventional models, they attack kyiv in particular and the Ukrainian army struggles to bring them down. “Robotic turrets are being installed on the bridges,” Yurii Ignat, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, told television. These devices have already made it possible to shoot down new generation jet drones near the Ukrainian capital, he added to AFP.

These turrets are “essentially a mobile firing group without a human operator, which already uses optical vision and artificial intelligence to eliminate the human factor and carry out strikes,” the spokesperson stressed. AFP journalists saw this new equipment in kyiv, which combines a machine gun and an automatic turret lined with sensors.

12 robotic turrets in kyiv

Serguii Beskrestnov, a technology adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Telegram on Sunday that 12 of these turrets had already been installed in the capital and that their deployment would continue. “It’s an innovative Ukrainian solution that shoots down (drones) using machine guns controlled by artificial intelligence,” he assured.

“It’s not some sort of panacea,” however, Colonel Ignat told AFP. “It’s not because there was a downed aircraft that we have already found something that changes the situation.” The new system has a limited radius of action, a little over a kilometer, and “works when conditions are favorable, particularly when the angle of approach of the attack is adequate,” he explained.

Since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has been trying to counter the waves of low-cost combat drones, inspired by the Iranian Shahed, used en masse by the Russians against its territory. The Ukrainian army claimed to shoot down more than 90% of conventional drones, in particular thanks to a network of mobile anti-aircraft defense groups, whose soldiers use machine guns and interception drones.

But Russia has evolved its drones, notably increasing their speed and the altitude at which they fly. In September, only “55%” of jet drones were intercepted, according to Colonel Ignat, mainly by the Ukrainian air force, starting with American-made F-16 fighters supplied by kyiv’s allies.