The Ukrainian Air Force has reported the first successful use of robotic turrets to destroy Russian jet-powered drones.
Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said this during the national television marathon, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
According to him, robotic turrets have already been able to shoot down jet-powered drones. In operation, they use machine vision and artificial intelligence technologies, enabling automated target acquisition.
"There have already been shoot-downs of jet-powered UAVs, even the Geran-5, using those same turrets. The use of innovative technologies and artificial intelligence has eliminated human error. It is machine vision that is used in the shoot-down. Artificial intelligence makes it possible to engage even jet-powered UAVs," Ihnat said.
The spokesperson noted that the ability to deploy such turrets is currently limited due to their short operating range. The main armament of the robotic systems is a machine gun.
According to Ihnat, this limits the turrets’ effectiveness at longer distances, but the technology continues to be used to counter drones.
- On 5 October, Russia launched 205 attack drones of various types at Ukraine. Air defences neutralised 172 of them.