One pilot, five bombers: Ukraine’s Lasar’s Group ties whole raid to single operator to save manpower

Ukraine's military faces a manpower shortage compared to Russia, leading developers to equip drones with greater autonomy. With fewer pilots available, developers are creating automated systems for reconnaissance, bombing, interception, and ground robots. This enables a single operator to manage multiple drones simultaneously.

Reconnaissance drones like Farsight Vision's FSV Platform and Sine Engineering's autonomy modules allow pilots to create terrain maps and navigate autonomously. This reduces the need for pilots, as drones can fly solo, returning after observing a specific point for 30 to 40 minutes.

For bombers, route-planning software enables a single pilot to manage up to five bombers. This pilot can execute bombing runs one after another, conserving personnel for other duties. Sine Engineering estimates an AI drone capable of autonomously destroying a target in a swarm would cost $2,000 to $3,000, while a pilot-operated night FPV with auto-capture costs around $700.

Intercepting enemy drones remains challenging, but Ukrainian developers are working on solutions. The Fourth Law's TFL Anti-Shahed module can scan the sky and detect targets at twice the range of the human eye, marking the target for the pilot. It is expected that Ukrainian manufacturers will release automatic Shahed-killing solutions by the end of the year.

Some experts recommend focusing on fire-and-forget interception rather than overemphasizing autonomy, as adding this feature to existing drones could increase their effectiveness by two to four times. However, ground-robot autopilots continue to pose significant challenges due to the irregular nature of Ukrainian terrain.