Putin’s Army of Drones

After four years of war in Ukraine, Moscow has adopted a pragmatic approach to military innovation that prizes what works, what scales and what delivers battlefield results. It is building A.I.-enabled command and control and appears to be deploying fully autonomous weapons without the ethical constraints that guide Western militaries.

The stakes extend beyond Ukraine: Iranian Shahed drones, fielded with Russian support, have struck American equipment and installations in the Middle East, and advances in autonomous warfare could make such attacks more devastating. Moscow has made unmanned systems and A.I.

a national priority, projecting that by 2030 one million specialists will work in the unmanned sector, increasing A.I. graduates by more than 400 percent and ensuring 95 percent of priority industries reach "readiness for the implementation of artificial intelligence technologies." Civilian industries supply data, talent and software to defense, while the military provides a continuous testing ground.

Russia, Moscow

putin, russian drones, autonomous weapons, artificial intelligence, shahed drones, ukraine war, unmanned systems, military ai, iran, military innovation