Ukraine used a heavy drone for the first time to deliver a robot behind enemy lines
For the first time, the Ukrainian military carried out a combat operation in which a heavy drone delivered and dropped a ground-based robotic system equipped with an anti-tank mine directly behind Russian lines.
According to the publication, the heavy drone was used as an “air carrier” to transport the ARK-1 ground-based robotic system deep behind enemy lines.
The article notes that this tactic has been dubbed “marsupial”—by analogy with marsupial animals, where one vehicle carries and releases another.
The author emphasizes that the concept of transporting drones or ground robots using other unmanned aerial vehicles existed even before the start of the full-scale war, but it was Ukraine that first applied it in real combat conditions.
As Forbes notes, the Ukrainian military is already actively using a similar principle with FPV drones, in which large drones deliver strike drones closer to the target, after which the latter continue their flight independently.
In addition, Ukraine has already tested a maritime version of this “marsupial” tactic.
According to the publication, during the first-ever unmanned maritime landing on the Kinburn Spit, a robotic boat delivered a tracked ground robot equipped with a remotely controlled machine gun to the shore.
After landing, the robot proceeded independently deeper into the territory. Its mission was likely to conduct reconnaissance and search for remnants of Russian units in the area.
Forbes notes that the Pentagon tested similar technologies as far back as 2003, 2009, and 2014.
Among them:
- the STORK project, in which a drone dropped a ground robot by parachute to conduct reconnaissance;
- the deployment of robotic platforms using Fire Scout and K-MAX unmanned helicopters.
However, none of these developments were ever used in actual combat operations.
“Everything worked fine, but nobody was particularly interested,” the publication quotes one of the researchers as saying.
The author of the article emphasizes that Ukraine was able to create and deploy a similar system with significantly fewer resources than the U.S. had available.
It is also noted that China is simultaneously developing similar technologies, having demonstrated a multicopter that delivers a machine-gun-armed quadruped robot to the ground—one capable of moving even up stairs.
At the same time, Ukraine is already testing heavy-lift unmanned aerial vehicles with a payload capacity of over 90 kilograms. They are planned to be used not only for logistics and the evacuation of the wounded, but also for transporting larger ground-based robotic systems.
According to available data, Ukraine plans to replace up to 30% of its frontline personnel with robotic systems in certain sectors of the front this year, which should increase the effectiveness of combat operations and reduce risks to service members.
This was reported by Forbes.
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