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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Daniel Boffey in Kyiv

Killing machines: how Russia and Ukraine’s race to perfect deadly pilotless drones could harm us all

A military drone on a tabletop
A Saker Scout mother drone in Ukraine. Autonomous drones can now be produced relatively cheaply and at scale, but many are pushing for greater regulation. Photograph: Kasia Stręk/The Guardian

On a fine day in early June, Ukrainian soldiers launched their latest killer robot. With a click on a screen, the unattractively named Gogol-M, a fixed-wing aerial drone with a 20-foot wingspan, took off from an undisclosed location and soared into a wide blue sky.

This “mothership” travelled 200km into Russia before releasing two attack drones hanging off its wings. Able to evade radar by flying at a low altitude, the smaller drones autonomously scanned the ground below to find a suitable target, and then locked on for the kill.

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