Germany is going to supply innovative artificial intelligence combat drones to Ukraine. The Armed Forces of Ukraine already uses a few of such drones on the battlefield to test their combat capabilities.
Germany's highly classified new drones are already in use in eastern Ukraine. Their mass shipments are going to start in December. Germany intends to send several hundreds of such drones per month.
A German AI company (according to unconfirmed reports, it goes about Helsing) signed a contract with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense in September 2024 for the supply of 4,000 loitering munitions. The funding for the agreement is provided as part of the modernization program initiated by the German federal government.
The innovative UAVs are not ordinary human-controlled kamikaze drones, but high-tech AI aerial vehicles. They were dubbed as Mini-Taurus in the professional community.
Like German Taurus cruise missile, the Helsing drones are equipped with software that makes them virtually immune to Russian GPS jamming and other electronic warfare equipment.
The drone analyzes the terrain and determines its location using thousands of landmarks. This helps the operator maintain course even in difficult weather conditions or areas with a significant degree of destruction. Once a target is found and the operator confirms it, the drone hits the target.
Helsing drones can hit targets even if radio contact is lost, provided that the operator gives the command in advance. Their accuracy is significantly higher compared to manually controlled combat drones.”
In addition, they can attack targets from the direction of the sun (under appropriate weather conditions), leaving minimal time for reaction.
The range of the new German drones exceeds the range of Ukrainian drones four times. It is believed that the German AI drones have a range four times that of common Ukrainian kamikaze drones. They carry enough explosives to destroy tanks and shelters. They can also hit moving targets.
The price per drone is significantly lower than that of American (Switchblade 600 costs about 100,000 euros) or Russian (Zala Lancet - 35,000 euros) analogues.