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Troops from Ukraine’s 3rd Army said they fought for 45 days using ground robots.
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The Droid TW 12.7 is equipped with a .50 caliber machine gun, remotely operated by an NC13 unit.
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The Third Army said there were no casualties among Ukrainian troops in the area during this period.
Ukraine’s army said on Monday that its troops used remote-controlled vehicles equipped with machine guns to hold frontline positions for 45 consecutive days.
“For 1.5 months, the ground drones of the 3rd Commando Brigade held the position instead of the infantry!” the Ukrainian 3rd Army said in a statement on Telegram.
The platform is an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) named Droid TW 12.7, equipped with a 0.50-caliber machine gun.
This is the first time the Ukrainian military has said it is using unmanned ground vehicles to replace or assist humans in holding forward positions for extended periods of time – one of the most dangerous tasks in war.
The force released aerial footage of drones firing weapons in a field, as well as short clips from drone-mounted cameras of drones engaging unknown targets.
Business Insider was unable to independently verify the location or date the video was filmed.
The Corps said the ground-based drone was deployed for 45 days to suppress Russian advances on the front lines with machine gun fire and was controlled by an operator from a secure location.
“During the mission, the enemy failed to penetrate or occupy our positions, and the soldiers stood firm and suffered zero casualties,” the army said.
The unit operating the Droid TW 12.7 belongs to NC13, a company belonging to the 3rd Commando Brigade that was established in September to focus exclusively on UGV warfare.
The Droid TW 12.7 is a remotely operated track system equipped with M2 Browning, developed by the Ukrainian defense technology company DevDroid.
DevDroid said the ground-based drone has an operating range of up to 15 miles, is controlled via radio signals, and also features autonomous navigation powered by artificial intelligence.
It has recently attracted attention for being deployed in ambushes against Russian infantry fighting vehicles, with footage captured by its cameras showing the drone spinning rapidly as it continued to fire on its target.
This achievement announced by the 3rd Army is another sign of the increasing use of UGVs in warfare. Ukrainian and Russian militaries have been developing such ground-based drones to perform dangerous tasks, from clearing mines to delivering supplies near front lines.
However, Ukrainian companies and units are also increasingly experimenting with unmanned ground vehicles capable of performing combat missions.
While these still require human pilots, they mark the early stages of robotic systems replacing human infantry in ground combat.
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