Russia has recently shifted its military strategy, moving away from air-based drones and focusing more on land-based "robots".
However, a military expert has expressed skepticism about the long-term success of this strategy, describing it as more opportunistic than revolutionary.
Christopher Alexander, Chief Analytics Officer of Pioneer Development Group and a U.S. Army veteran with experience in Strategic Operations Command, told Fox News Digital, "Its just a really difficult problem." He explained that supervising the engagement of targets is a significant challenge, especially on the ground where control and spaces are limited. "Collecting casualties? Yes. Breaching a door yes, they already have that technology, and it does well, and those are usually semi-autonomous or remotely controlled, but its a hard problem to solve," he said.
The Scorpion-M, a new Russian kamikaze robot that resembles an old R.C. race car toy, has been heavily used in recent months, especially in the Donetsk region. The robot can carry up to 55 pounds of explosives and can reach areas that might otherwise escape aerial bombardment. A video obtained earlier this month by news agency East2West showed a Russian brigade using the robot to destroy underground hideouts of Ukrainian forces, according to pro-war Russian accounts.
"The successful use of the Scorpion-M demonstrated the high reliability and maneuverability of the robotic vehicle, as well as its combat effectiveness in carrying out missions to destroy enemy strongholds and fire weapons," said one pro-war account.
The increased use of the drone might be more a result of how Ukraine has approached its defense rather than any significant advantage land-based drones can offer over other similar weapons. Ukraine has heavily invested in and requested anti-air weapons to detect and shoot down air drones, meaning eyes are on the sky and not the ground.
This gap in defensive awareness is where Russia seems to have found some success with the Scorpion-M. However, Alexander suggested that part of the issue is that it also avoids problems with jamming and fighting for control over the electromagnetic spectrum for communications.
"Theres much the spy-vs-spy game of trying to keep peoples drones in the air before they get jammed, and I read some accounts of Ukrainian infantry that said new guys would turn their phones on, and they had to tell them to stop that because they would turn their phones on and within 30 minutes they would receive artillery fire," Alexander explained.
"So I think theres a ton going on in the electromagnetic spectrum, and its probably getting harder and harder to fly drones effectively and to use them," he continued. "So the advantage of being on the ground is that its much more difficult to jam on the ground, because no ones worked on solving that problem yet."
"I just cant see how anyone in the current state of the technology or deploying these things at the company/battalion level and having any significant effect beyond the local, tactical situation," he added. "The Russians put that other drone of theirs out in Syria, and the program just didnt work."
Ukraine has also explored the use of these devices, using them to attack Russian positions in innovative ways that would catch their opponents off guard. For instance, a drone was used to carry an explosive charge under a Russian bridge before detonating it, as reported by Radio Free Europe.
Nataliia Kushnerska, head of the Ukrainian government organization Bravel, told the outlet that her organization had made the development of ground robots "one of its top priorities to catch up with other unmanned systems."
Kushnerska revealed that her group has received over 200 unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) designs and has tested around 50 so far. However, the most promising design is not intended for combat. Instead, it would serve to transport wounded soldiers from the battlefield.
"Communication with the military has shown us that the defenders suffer many of their losses during the evacuation of the wounded," Kushnerska said. "By the end of 2024, we expect this [evacuation] UGV will become a systematic part of our military's actions."
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