Ukraine's Igla Missile Robot Is Made for Ambushing Russian Helicopters

The four-wheel 'bot could lie in wait

Ukraine’s Igla robot. Via Special Kherson Cat

Ukrainian forces have bolted an Igla shoulder-fired air-defense missile to a four-wheel ground robot—and added a camera and remote controls so a distant operator wearing a virtual-reality headset can aim and fire the 25-pound missile at drones, helicopters and airplanes as far as three miles away.

It’s a great idea—and the latest example of robotics improvisation by the manpower-starved Ukrainian military. “Russia can afford to send wave after wave of soldiers to die on Ukrainian soil,” war correspondent David Kirichenko explained. “By contrast, Ukraine must turn to technology.”

Already the world’s leader in unmanned aerial vehicles, Ukraine is now turning its attention to a much more challenging field of robotics: ground robots, which unlike UAVs must navigate difficult terrain that tends to block radio signals.

“Ground robotic platforms are already proving their effectiveness in logistics, evacuation and fire-support,” Oleksandr, the platoon commander overseeing ground robots for the Antares Battalion of the Rubizh Brigade, told Kirichenko. “Over the next year, their role will only grow.”