Ukrainian soldiers conducting operations in the kill zone have been putting anti-tank RPGs on ground robots, a robotic systems manufacturer told Business Insider, explaining that the battlefield has become too dangerous for troops to use the weapons the way they did earlier in the war.
Rocket-propelled grenades are often used by infantry to defeat armored vehicles and weaken fortified positions, but the battlefield has changed, forcing new innovations.
In the kill zone, “nobody knew how to use” an RPG “while staying safe himself,” Oleg Fedoryshyn, the R&D director of Ukrainian robot maker DevDroid, told Business Insider.
The kill zone along Ukraine’s front is a perilous area, as deep as 50 kilometers in some areas, where drones are so heavily concentrated alongside other weaponry that any movement represents a significant risk. For many soldiers, simply getting within RPG range can be extremely difficult.
The decision to move RPGs onto robots reflects a broader shift in the war. Early in Russia’s full-scale invasion, RPGs were a common infantry weapon, used against Russian tanks and vehicles and to support infantry during fights in towns and cities.
But cheap drones, in both surveillance and strike roles, have transformed ground combat, reducing the use of armored vehicles and changing infantry engagements.
Dmytro Smolienko/Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images
DevDroid’s ground robots aren’t the only ones getting RPGs as the war evolves. Ukrainian UGV maker Temerland says its Gnom-VP ground robotic fire support platform carries two RPG-7 launchers, along with other weapons and mine-laying capabilities.
Fedoryshyn said soldiers working with DevDroid started putting the RPGs on robots that were already armed with machine guns. The robots can drive close enough to targets and fire shorter-range weapons while keeping their operators much farther from danger.
Fedoryshyn said a brigade came to the company and said they wanted to try putting RPGs on a robot, and they had “great” success using it. Now, the company is exploring “how to add support for this for everyone in the future,” he said.
Devdroid makes ground robots and a remote-controlled weapons station that allows operators to fire from safe distances, as well as electric triggers that allow operators to activate a weapon remotely.
Requests from soldiers are often how Ukraine’s new capabilities emerge. Arms makers work directly with front-line units, gathering feedback and rapidly modifying equipment.
Fedoryshyn said DevDroid has 24/7 chat support available for every unit that uses its systems. He said that the company can design a new update, test it with a brigade, and roll it out across all deployed systems within a week.
It designs its gear for easy updates, “like mobile phones or operating systems,” he added.
Oleksandr Klymenko/Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The war is one of rapid innovation to field new capabilities and preserve the utility of older ones as the war changes. Mounting RPGs on ground robots is another sign of that evolution. Instead of discarding a weapon designed for a kind of fighting that is less common now, Ukrainian troops are changing who carries it to keep it in the fight. Other weapons, such as flamethrowers, grenade launchers, and machine guns, have also been mounted on robots.
Fedoryshyn said his company is often surprised by how soldiers use its robots, including cases in which Russian soldiers have surrendered to them. Ukraine’s experience, he said, shows Western militaries preparing for protracted wars should invest in large numbers of inexpensive, easily replaceable robots rather than relying solely on costly tanks and armored vehicles.
