Global Powers at The Edge of Autonomous Battlefield Innovation

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A Russian military robotic technology is expected to replace manned platforms. Col. Oleg Pomazuev who runs the Department of Innovation Research at the Russian military’s Main Directorate of Research Activities (GUNID), told defenseone.com that the Russian military will field a new armed tank-like robot that “outperformed” manned platforms in recent exercises.

The robot, called the Nerehta, can carry a 12.7mm or 7.62mm machine gun or an AG-30M grenade launcher. Pomazuev didn’t say which manned platforms the Nerehta outperformed, but among his service’s vehicles of similar size and armament are the BRDM reconnaissance vehicle and GAZTigr.

The Russians are testing a wide variety of UGVs, from small robots up to large armed ones, said Samuel Bendett, an associate research analyst with the Center for Naval Analyses’ International Affairs Group. “They’ve also been stating for a while that their modernization and state armaments program will include high-tech and unmanned systems,” Bendett said. The Russian military has also created a larger semi-autonomous tank called the T-14, which sports a remotely operated turret.

Gen. Mark Milley, chief of staff of the U.S. Army explained that the US army is pushing forward in this domain as well. Trends in autonomy and robotic battle systems are proceeding faster than many realize. “We are in a period of time, historically, where you are getting a convergence of a wide variety of technologies. We are at the leading edge of that,” said Milley. “In combination, I guarantee that they are changing and will change the fundamental character of war. You have a lot of changes in mechanical engineering, in robotics. So autonomous systems, or semi-autonomous, they are already here”.