Several Ukrainian defence companies are working on creating missile systems that use artificial intelligence. Brave1 defence cluster chief executive Andrii Hrytseniuk told Business Insider.
“At first, artificial intelligence began to be used at scale in drones. It isn’t that fast — for drones that’s enough, but missiles require much higher speeds,” Andrii Hrytseniuk noted.
This includes, in particular, technologies that can be used for navigation, target recognition and tracking, and the operation of guidance systems.
According to Hrytseniuk, there have already been early successes in integrating AI into missiles, and a number of projects are in development. At the same time, the level of readiness of such developments is not currently being disclosed.
“Artificial intelligence is now being integrated ever more actively into missile systems as well. Although this has not yet reached the scale of the hundreds of solutions already used in the drone sector, we are already seeing early successes and a large number of developments that are in progress,” Hrytseniuk said.
In a previous interview in May, Hrytseniuk noted that more than 200 Ukrainian companies were developing AI-enabled components for missiles, drones, radars and other military systems.
Business Insider notes that the development of such technologies is taking place against the backdrop of large-scale Ukrainian investment in its own cruise and ballistic missiles. Kyiv is also ramping up production of long-range strike weapons. However, the specific operating principles of AI in Ukrainian missiles and the level of readiness of such systems are not currently being disclosed. Brave1 stresses that the use of artificial intelligence is intended to expand weapons capabilities, but does not mean completely removing humans from the decision-making process.
Recently, the Brave1 defence cluster, together with the Main Directorate for Defence Innovations of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, conducted large-scale tests of modules for automatic terminal guidance of drones onto moving ground targets.
Overall, the Defence Forces use more than 70 models of systems based on artificial intelligence and machine vision technologies to strike enemy targets.
“And on the state defence technology marketplace Brave1 Market, defenders have access to 46 AI developments, including target recognition modules, optical stabilisation and automatic terminal guidance,” the Ministry of Defence reported.