Russia Reports Ukraine Fielding Unjammable, Undetectable, Far-Flying AI Drones

The prospect of AI-driven drones which are unjammable, undetectable by current means and fly twice as far as current models has gone from anticipation to reality. The new models are being called "Martians."

But what is especially interesting about this is that the new AI drones were revealed not by Ukraine, but by Russia's TASS news agency, which was informed by its own troops. JL

Stefan Korshak reports in the Kyiv Post:

Ukraine's military has fielded a new-generation tactical drone that is immune to jamming, can’t be seen by detectors looking for robot aircraft’s electronic signature, and has about twice the range of swarms already dominating the battlefield. Russia's TASS news agency reported "(Ukraine) has begun using new drones called ‘Martians,’ which, unfortunately, have a cruising speed of up to 300 kilometers/hour [186 miles / hour], no longer fly under operator guidance but are controlled by AI. They are undetectable by electronic warfare systems, and drone detectors don’t spot them.” 

Ukraine’s military has fielded a new-generation tactical drone that is immune to jamming, can’t be seen by detectors looking for robot aircraft’s electronic signature, and has about twice the range of swarms already dominating the battlefield, official and frontline Russian sources said on Wednesday.

No less than the official Kremlin information agency TASS, in a Wednesday news flash headlined “The AFU [Armed Forces of Ukraine] has started to use ‘Martians’ for strikes against Horlivka,” confirmed local officials had observed strikes by the new Ukrainian aircraft.

TASS cited Ivan Prikhodko, mayor of the Russia-occupied Ukrainian city of Horlivka, as an eyewitness to the new Ukrainian drone attacks. 

“The enemy has begun using new drones called ‘Martians,’ which, unfortunately, have a cruising speed of up to 300 kilometers/hour [186 miles / hour], no longer fly under operator guidance but are controlled by artificial intelligence,” Prikhodko said. “They are undetectable by electronic warfare systems, and drone detectors don’t spot them.” 

The TASS report carried by most state-controlled Russian major media, including RT-1 Television and RIA Novosti, ran against the grain of usual Kremlin messaging on the Russo-Ukraine War, which, since the Kremlin’s invasion in February 2022, has advanced the narrative that Russian military technology and weapons are overwhelmingly superior to that of the purportedly technologically inferior AFU, which will soon be defeated. 

Apti Alauidnov, a Chechen special forces commander and pro-Moscow milblogger, in an April 6 video published on his personal Telegram channel, stated that Russia was losing the drone technology race to Ukraine. Like Prikhodko, he reported Kyiv’s forces had recently deployed new-generation tactical drones, making it almost impossible for Russian supply columns to reach troops.

“The enemy has introduced new types of drones. Our guys shot some down and looked at them. It appears they are jointly produced, Ukraine-Germany, Ukraine-France. They are modernized. They fly farther than the old ones. They [the AFU] are using them to cut off our logistics completely…We see that European countries are trying to test their new technologies in Ukraine in the present war,” Alaudinov said in part. 

“There has been a qualitative change in [unmanned aerial vehicles] UAVs at the front; in essence, Ukraine has introduced a new generation [drone], which is creating serious logistics challenges…these drones operate day and night, and are inaudible (except in the final seconds, when they’re diving, as in the video). They are undetectable by conventional detectors and are protected from electronic warfare. They are extremely high-quality, mass-produced military-grade. And there’s a theory that they’re controlled not by human operators, but by AI. If they’re dropped by a Starlink-powered relay wing, their range is very long. They’re very fast (they’re winged), and you can’t escape at any speed,” reported Russian war correspondent Sergey Kolyasnikov in an April 6 article evaluating Aludinov’s and Prikhodko’s statements. 

Russian scientist Alexy Chadayev, general director of the Scientific and Production Center Ushkuinik, a drone development and testing facility in Velkiy Novgorod Russia, in an April 7 essay on the drone tech race between Ukraine and Russia said that Russia had “lost leadership in ‘small sky’ [drone] operations in the past six months” to Ukraine, because of big tech advances by Kyiv developers and dramatically upscaled drone production.

Ukraine’s drone forces have since December increased aircraft quantities manufactured by 250%, more than doubled the average range of its tactical drones from around 40 kilometers (25 miles) to more than 80 kilometers (50 miles), taken over from Russia leadership in quantities of jamming-resistant fiber optic drones, and shifted to widespread use of drones using artificial intelligence to guide themselves to a target without needing instructions from an operator, Chadayev said.

Russian operators are additionally handicapped because Ukrainian drone forces systematically hunt Russian reconnaissance drones, he said, which prevents a Russian drone team from making attack because there is no observation drone to find the target.

In recent months, shortages of Russian reconnaissance drones combined with longer ranges of Ukrainian drones have combined to create a new problem: Russian drone teams are getting attacked by Ukrainian drones not during operations but while they are still in a vehicle attempting to reach a launch site close enough to the Ukrainians to attack them, Chadayev said. 

“We have enormous problems with last-mile logistics. Up to 90% of our losses are currently occurring there. So, even getting our drones to the launch point is a gamble, no matter what we use,” he said.

Ukrainian sources in recent weeks have said the drone war is going well for Kyiv’s forces, and in some cases reported new types of drones undergoing testing, but without stating what new aircraft might have already reached the field. Citing security concerns, AFU leadership has usually confirmed first use of new equipment only weeks and sometimes months after the fact.

Ukrainian army commander Oleksandr Syrsky, in Thursday comments to Kyiv media, said that thanks to the effectiveness of AFU drone forces, Ukraine “holds the initiative” across the front line and that the Russian military is suffering heavy damage to men and personnel from drone strikes. In those remarks, Syrsky credited more efficient domestic production of unmanned aerial systems, improved operator skills, and “organizational decisions” by the Ukrainian military command for the success. He made no reference to new drone tech fielded by his troops.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, in a March 30 announcement, said that a new generation of bomber drones with increased flight range, higher payload capacity, and protected/secure communication links was currently undergoing testing, and that increasing the distance between the Ukrainian drone operator and a potential Russian threat – called “stand off” – was a top priority for developers. Experimental aircraft had been flown through airspace with more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) of continuous jamming and reached a simulated target and returned, the announcement said. 

The Ukrainian security and defense publication, Militarnyi, in a Wednesday report, said that Russian drone operators in early April, for the first time, encountered Ukrainian First Person View (FPV) quadcopter aircraft fitted with a conventional wing, giving the drone extended range and loitering capacity. Lower-level operators probably came up with the upgrade to create a more effective interceptor drone that attacks Russian aircraft, the report said.

Some pro-Russian bloggers are predicting the situation will worsen. Oleg Tsaryov, a political scientist born in Ukraine who joined Russia’s first invasion in 2014, in a Wednesday review of the situation on the front, said the next Ukrainian drone upgrade will be bigger swarms. 

“A lot has changed. The Ukrainians said they would significantly increase the number of drones at the front…they have managed to achieve much of what they set out to do…Ukraine has managed to double the number of drones it uses to strike our rear areas. We can see it…according to the military, that’s the situation on the front line is similar…[and[ according to the information we see from Ukraine, right now their production capacity is at 30%, notwithstanding all the drones they produce,” Tsayrov said.“This (the way Ukraine is manufacturing drones) doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. It’s cutting-edge. This is where we come up short,” he said.