Mississippi’s senior US Senator, Roger Wicker, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, continues to support Ukraine’s fight to preserve its freedom and democracy from Russian invasion. He notes “Vladimir Putin is a war criminal, a KGB alumnus, and oppressor of the Russian people” who threatens NATO and the West as its eastern flank.
In his effort to enhance American defenses, Senator Wicker’s attention has turned to drone technology. In recent hearings, he highlighted the critical role of small, low-cost “Group 1” drones. He stated: “The American drone industry is essentially starting from near zero. But today, we are on a path to a strong industry that can support the American Military.”
Senator Wicker states that in Ukraine, “the facts show that Putin is nowhere close to winning”. The Senator credits Ukraine’s “innovation” in the development of cutting-edge drones. Let’s look at the innovations.
A true hero of Ukraine and the West is American Eric Schmidt. Schmidt’s drone, the Bumblebee, is slowing Russia’s advance in Ukraine. Schmidt is the computer engineer who was the CEO and Chairman of Google (AB Princeton; PhD Berkley). Schmidt turned his attention to drone manufacturing two years ago after seeing reports of Russia’s destruction of apartments in Ukraine killing women and children inside. Schmidt says with AI drones “we can make the penalty for invading a country, at least by land, essentially be impossible.” Schmidt’s Bumblebee drone has received extensive real-world testing in Ukraine.
The Bumblebee, using AI technology, can lock onto a target in Ukraine like a Russian enemy drone, a troop carrier, or a Russian ammo dump. Once the drone recognizes the target, the drone pilot can turn over control to the drone to track and pursue the target. The AI enhanced drone is autonomous, impervious to electronic warfare defenses that would defeat other drones. Schmidt’s company is working also to allow a single Ukrainian drone pilot to control swarms of drones from up to 300 miles away.
Ukraine intends to manufacture in its decentralized drone factories seven million drones in 2026. Russia is falling behind. Dismayed Russians call the Bumblebee “the Martian” thinking it must be based on the NASA’s drone that flew on Mars.
March was supposed to be the start of Russia’s Spring offensive. It turned out to be Russia’s worst month of the war. In March Ukraine ramped up Russian casualties to 35,351 for the month, 96% produced by drones. March 17 set a record for a single day with 1,710 Russian casualties. As a result, Russia in March lost more men than it could replace in recruits.
Russia has endured over 1.3 million casualties in four years of war. It will get worse. President Zelensky’s goal is to produce 50,000 Russian casualties a month, at which point he believes Russians will have to stop. As one can imagine, Ukraine’s progress has affected Russians recruitment. The last Russian mobilization only produced 20% of its goal, just 20,000, not 100,000 men. Nor has it helped Russian morale that its corrupt commanders extort the pay of Russian soldiers on their hope for protection.
Another Ukrainian innovation is its mid-range drones which have created a 10 mile kill zone behind Russian lines. Still another is Ukraine’s increasing robot army of unmanned ground vehicles. In April unmanned vehicles carrying machine guns, unaccompanied by any Ukrainian soldier, forced the surrender of a group of Russian soldiers who followed the drones back. In a war where Russia has a four to one advantage in population, Ukraine’s ramping up unmanned vehicles will be a game changer.
Also, recently Ukraine’s sea drones set Russia’s two large oil terminals on the Baltic Sea ablaze, taking them offline. Those and other Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil and gas facilities have cost Russia’s war machine nearly one billion in lost exports.
Another innovation is Ukraine’s Terra AI Interceptor drones jointly developed with Japan. A $2,000 Terra drone traveling at 300 km/hour speed can overtake a $35,000 Russian Shahed drone traveling at 200 km/hour and kill it. Japan, like Saudi Arabia and UAE, recognizes Ukraine today has become one of the most strategically important nations on earth.
One more is the Ukraine’s Sunray laser weapon that currently can knock down a drone within a few hundred yards. The distance is increasing. It will answer Russian drone swarms.
We should be encouraged. As Senator Wicker has said though: “The United States can—and should—get Ukraine more offensive and defensive aerial capabilities”, especially to ward off Russian hypersonic missiles. Also, continued provision of American Intelligence is essential.
As I write this my wife Suzanne and I are preparing to leave for DC in the coming week to visit our Congressional delegation on behalf of the American Coalition for Ukraine. To join:https://americancoalitionforukraine.org/
Robert P. Wise is a Northsider.
