Munich, Berlin. First there were a few dozen, then a few hundred and this year there will be 50,000. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, this is how many robot vehicles Ukraine wants to have in use by the end of the year. The robots deliver food and ammunition to the front, rescue the injured and some also carry machine guns or rocket launchers. The demand is great.
It was only at the beginning of October that Wietfeld signed an agreement with Ukraine as part of a visit by Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Arx is expected to mass-produce unmanned vehicles together with its Ukrainian partner Roboneers. Other German companies such as Apex AI also see good opportunities. Large suppliers such as Deutz AG, who provide their industrial capacities in Germany, are involved in production.
First drones conquered the sky, now the ground. Both are interdependent: Because drones now completely dominate the airspace over the fighting in Ukraine, the soldiers hardly leave their positions anymore. It takes an average of three minutes for a soldier in the so-called “kill zone” on the Ukrainian front to be discovered and attacked by an enemy drone. It takes six minutes for a vehicle to be hit by a drone.
The “kill zone” is not only becoming deadlier, it is also becoming larger spatially. While it was initially only one to three kilometers to the right and left of the front, it now extends up to 40 kilometers deep. “Everything that was previously transported by people in the kill zone should be done by robots in the future,” says Marc Wietfeld about the requirements of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Ground drones have been used in the Ukraine war for years, but now they are being used on a mass scale. For the numerically inferior Ukrainian armed forces, they are a key to the defensive battle against Russia. This year alone, Ukraine has carried out more than 100,000 supply runs using remote-controlled vehicles.
As early as the summer of 2025, President Zelensky announced that Ukraine had conquered an enemy position for the first time using only aerial and ground drones. The Russian soldiers surrendered to the drones. According to the military, ground drones were also successfully used in “Operation Vivaldi” in Donbass this summer. During one mission, large aerial drones carried several ground drones behind Russian lines. There they distracted the Russian troops while the Ukrainian infantry advanced.
The number of manufacturers has also increased dramatically. “We are currently seeing the greatest momentum in arms development with ground drones,” says Taras Chmut, head of the Ukrainian aid organization Come Back Alive. 95 percent of the manufacturers are from Ukraine. Thousands of pieces are produced every month. The aid organization supplies the armed forces with 20 different types of ground drones and also organizes training and maintenance.
Most drones that come out of the factory still have to be adapted for use, says Chmut. This should now be improved with foreign help. “Build with Ukraine” is the name of the program in which Western defense companies enter into partnerships with Ukrainian companies. Germany is the most important donor and German industry is involved accordingly with orders.
The industry is now going into mass production. Arx Robotics, only founded in 2021 by former Bundeswehr officers, has already delivered hundreds of “Gereon” robot vehicles to Ukraine and thus maintains the largest fleet of Western design in the war. The compact tracked vehicle is electric and can transport up to 500 kilograms of material, rescue the wounded and also carry weapons. The drone is controlled remotely via a controller, but can also carry out certain maneuvers semi-autonomously. Since September, Gereon has also been built at the Deutz Ulm plant and delivered to Ukraine.
At the beginning of next year, another production will be built in the north of Munich. There, Arx is expanding a former exhibition center into the new company headquarters. There are also new productions in Great Britain and Poland. Another production facility in Ukraine is planned for the joint venture with Roboneers. The “Rys Pro” developed by Roboneers is to be built. This platform is simpler than the Gereon and is intended to be built in large numbers. The bottom line is that Arx increased production tenfold between 2025 and 2026. Production is expected to quadruple again by 2028. Arx does not provide any information about sales or possible further financing rounds.
The competition is intense and attracts more companies. Even those who have previously worked primarily for the automotive industry, such as Apex AI. "There is usually no functioning GPS in the kill zone, and Starlink is often limited. Autonomous vehicles are therefore the best choice for carrying out unmanned operations," says Jan Becker, boss and founder of the company. “At the end of September, in collaboration with the Ukrainian National Guard, we succeeded in making the first fully autonomous trip to a frontline position.” The vehicle took almost two hours to cover the 22 kilometers. This is 50 percent faster than ground drones that operate via remote control.
But there are still problems. For example, the fishing nets that were stretched across the road to defend against drones initially confused the vehicle. The Ukrainian commander involved in the operation still believes that purely autonomous driving will displace remote control at the front. Even if the signal path between the operator and the drone worked smoothly, the problem of latency would still remain. However, this implied delay in the signals limits the speed of the ground drones, since in the event of an obstacle or an attack, a reaction can always take place with a delay.
Taras Chmut from Come Back Alive, however, is skeptical about the concept of fully autonomous drones. “There is no demand for fully autonomous drones,” he says. Instead of building complex new systems, it is more important to improve the quality of existing drones. Better production standards are needed so that they work more reliably, he says.
For Ukraine, the main thing is to compensate for its numerical inferiority compared to Russia with better technology and greater automation. Marc Wietfeld also sees cooperation with the country as a great opportunity for German industry. “We already have an innovation lead in robotic vehicles compared to Russia and the USA,” says the head of Arx Robotics. The ever-larger fleet of vehicles means that more and more data is being gained that American industry does not have. “That means there is a new type of warfare that German companies have mastered more than anyone else in the world,” says Wietfeld. "This technology will also be used for civil purposes after the war. This can be an innovation engine for Germany that can carry us for thirty or forty years."
