Ukraine advances killer robot drones with more automation, efficiency

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. LVIV, Ukraine—It was the year of the explosive drone: speedy, agile craft the size of dinner plates that in 2024 became Ukraine’s main defensive weapon against massive Russian ground assaults. The new year will see the rise of killer robots, as computers take over more functions from human pilots, including flying to the battlefield and striking selected targets.

Automation could help the Ukrainians hold off a giant foe determined to take control of their country no matter the cost in men and machines, even if the new Trump administration slows or halts arms deliveries to Kyiv. But humans will remain in control. Next-generation drones won’t be swarms of fully automated, computer-controlled slaughterbots that color the dreams of military geeks and the nightmares of moralists.

Instead, Ukrainian companies are seeking incremental advances that boost a strike drone’s chances of reaching and hitting its target. “We have been trying to make autonomous cars for years but still have drivers," says Andriy Zvirko, chief strategy officer for Sine.Engineering, a Ukrainian drone technology developer. Rather than replace drone pilots, Sine aims to help them by lowering the skill level needed to operate a drone, Zvirko says.

Augmenting human work with automation is increasingly common across industries. Boeing and Airbus for decades have offered pilots a growing list of options to let onboard computers handle tasks ranging from flying a plane in cruise to landing in dense fog. Companies in sectors from car-making to e-commerce, from Toyota to Amazon.com, have found that a mix of human labor and automation is often most effective.