Ukrainian drones deliver robots directly into battle by sea and air
Ukrainian drones deliver robots directly into battle by sea and air
乌克兰无人机通过海空途径将机器人直接送入战场
In the latest twist on battlefield innovations, Ukraine has used both flying drone carriers and drone boats to send ground robots armed with weapons or explosives into battle. The drone-assisted deployments have enabled slower wheeled robots to bypass tough terrain and Russian defenses, and to carry out an unusual robotic amphibious assault on a contested position. Such tactics also showcase the Ukrainian military’s ongoing experimentation with using drones and robots to offset a Russian military advantage in manpower while also sparing Ukrainian soldiers from making dangerous assaults.
在战场创新的最新进展中，乌克兰利用飞行无人机母机和无人艇，将配备武器或爆炸物的地面机器人送入战场。这种无人机辅助部署方式使速度较慢的轮式机器人能够绕过复杂地形和俄罗斯的防御工事，并对争议地区实施了罕见的机器人两栖突击。这些战术也展示了乌克兰军队正在进行的实验，即利用无人机和机器人来抵消俄罗斯军队在人力上的优势，同时避免乌克兰士兵进行危险的突击行动。
On July 19, a Russian military Telegram channel posted a video showing a Ukrainian hexacopter drone carrying a ground robot suspended below by a cable, according to the Ukrainian government-run news platform United24. The Russian Telegram channel described the Ukrainian heavy bomber drone as deploying a four-wheeled ARK-1 robot armed with explosive anti-tank mines on the ground where it continued toward Russian military positions—and apparently generated plenty of outraged comments from pro-Kremlin social media users. It’s unclear how successful that particular mission was. But the tactic could improve the survivability of ground robots by helping them evade Russian aerial surveillance and drone strikes while closing with their targets more quickly. The ARK-1 robot can roll along at a top speed of nearly 28 miles per hour, although some robots are considerably slower.
据乌克兰政府运营的新闻平台 United24 报道，7 月 19 日，一个俄罗斯军事 Telegram 频道发布了一段视频，显示一架乌克兰六旋翼无人机通过缆绳悬挂着一台地面机器人。该俄罗斯 Telegram 频道称，这架乌克兰重型轰炸无人机在地面部署了一台配备反坦克地雷的四轮 ARK-1 机器人，随后该机器人继续向俄军阵地推进——此举显然在亲克里姆林宫的社交媒体用户中引发了大量愤怒的评论。目前尚不清楚该任务的成功程度如何。但这种战术可以通过帮助地面机器人规避俄罗斯的空中监视和无人机打击，同时更快地接近目标，从而提高其生存能力。ARK-1 机器人的最高时速可达近 28 英里（约 45 公里），尽管有些机器人的速度要慢得多。
Ukrainian ground robots also joined a Ukrainian military operation on June 25 that targeted the Kinburn Spit, a sandy and narrow peninsula that extends westward into the Black Sea and is connected to the Russian-occupied left bank of the Kherson Oblast. Russian military forces captured the Kinburn Spit in June 2022 and set up positions there to help control southern Ukraine’s port access to the Black Sea, although they began withdrawing from the peninsula in early June as Ukraine’s mid- and long-range drone strike campaigns strained Russian supply lines. During the June 25 operation, a Ukrainian drone boat lowered a landing ramp to drop off a ground robot on the still-contested Kinburn Spit, according to a video shared by the Ukrainian government on July 13. The remotely controlled robot proceeded to fire its machine gun during apparently “mild” fighting that resulted in a Ukrainian flag-planting demonstration on the contested peninsula, according to Michael Bohnert, a defense researcher at the RAND Corporation think tank, in a social media post. Although Bohnert described it as an impressive feat, he also cautioned that the amphibious robotic assault concept is probably not yet ready for heavy combat scenarios.
6 月 25 日，乌克兰地面机器人还参与了针对金伯恩沙嘴（Kinburn Spit）的军事行动。金伯恩沙嘴是一个向西延伸至黑海的狭长半岛，与俄罗斯占领的赫尔松州左岸相连。俄军于 2022 年 6 月占领了金伯恩沙嘴并在此建立阵地，以协助控制乌克兰南部通往黑海的港口。不过，随着乌克兰的中远程无人机打击行动使俄罗斯的补给线吃紧，俄军于 6 月初开始从该半岛撤离。根据乌克兰政府 7 月 13 日分享的视频，在 6 月 25 日的行动中，一艘乌克兰无人艇放下登陆跳板，将一台地面机器人送上了仍处于争议中的金伯恩沙嘴。兰德公司智库的国防研究员迈克尔·博纳特（Michael Bohnert）在社交媒体上发文称，这台遥控机器人在一场显然“温和”的战斗中开火，最终乌克兰在争议半岛上进行了插旗展示。尽管博纳特称这是一项令人印象深刻的壮举，但他同时也提醒说，这种两栖机器人突击概念可能尚未准备好应对激烈的战斗场景。
The robot and drone surge
机器人与无人机的激增
Such feats come as Ukraine has orchestrated a battlefield surge of ground robots since late 2025 and demonstrated how teams of drones and robots can overcome Russian military positions on their own. Ukraine’s military robotic missions have ramped up from just under 7,500 missions in January to more than 16,600 missions in June, with robots transporting supplies, evacuating wounded soldiers, clearing or laying mines, and directly engaging in combat operations, according to United24. Drones carrying robots into battle are also just the latest examples of Ukrainian tactical innovations that have emerged since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Ukrainian military has also been using large flying drones as motherships to carry explosive FPV drones into battle, and has even sent high-altitude balloons deep into Russia to drop one-way attack drones and missiles near their targets. The Russian military has followed suit with its own carrier drones. Ukraine has also equipped drone boats with the capability to deploy swarms of FPV drones to attack Russian military positions near the coast of the contested Black Sea. A campaign of Ukrainian drone strikes has already effectively stopped Russian shipping of fuel, grain and other supplies through the Sea of Azov. Meanwhile, the US military has been looking to Ukraine’s example in many cases while seeking to procure a new generation of drones. The US military even sent its own kamikaze drone boats into combat for the first time during the ongoing war with Iran, which continues to severely disrupt the crucial shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz.
这些壮举发生之际，乌克兰自 2025 年底以来一直在战场上大规模部署地面机器人，并展示了无人机和机器人团队如何能够独立攻克俄罗斯的军事阵地。据 United24 报道，乌克兰的军事机器人任务数量已从 1 月份的不到 7,500 次增加到 6 月份的超过 16,600 次，机器人承担了运输补给、撤离伤员、扫雷或布雷以及直接参与战斗等任务。无人机携带机器人进入战场，只是自 2022 年 2 月俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰以来出现的乌克兰战术创新的最新例证。乌克兰军队还一直使用大型飞行无人机作为母机，携带爆炸性 FPV 无人机进入战场，甚至派遣高空气球深入俄罗斯境内，在目标附近投放单向攻击无人机和导弹。俄罗斯军队也效仿此举，使用了自己的载机无人机。乌克兰还为无人艇配备了部署 FPV 无人机群的能力，以攻击黑海争议海域附近的俄罗斯军事阵地。乌克兰的无人机打击行动已经有效地阻止了俄罗斯通过亚速海运输燃料、谷物和其他物资。与此同时，美国军方在寻求采购新一代无人机时，在许多情况下都在参考乌克兰的经验。美国军方甚至在与伊朗持续不断的冲突中，首次投入了自有的自杀式无人艇，而伊朗目前仍在严重干扰霍尔木兹海峡的关键航道。