Ukraine has borrowed the most basic idea of ​​Lego. And has transformed it into the final machine for war

Drones with shotguns of double cannonrobots Lanzaluelaunmanned vessels With missilesairplanes With shotgunsdevices with kilometer cables of optical fiber Looking for its goal through algorithms … The war in Ukraine became the largest war laboratory of modern contests, but in recent months that transformation has become more palpable than ever. Because soldiers are no longer recruited, they are recruited directly robots.

Modular fights. They counted this week In Insider that among the key actors of this unprecedented experimentation of military terrestrial robotics is the company Estonia Milrem Roboticswhose land autonomous vehicle Themis It has been deployed by the Ukrainian forces on the front. The striking, however, is not only the presence of these systems, but the way in which Ukrainian soldiers are using them: unforeseen and highly creative.

Kuldar Väärsi, founder of the company, He has highlighted that troops have managed to expand their abilities by adding modifications, adaptations and even using them to Not expected taskssuch as collection of corpses, controlled explosions, supply transport or mines. In a context where each resource can mean life or death, tactical innovation is born directly from the front.

Military Lego. The Thanmis model can load up to 1,200 kgmove at 20 km/Hy wearing weapons like machine guns or launcherin addition to acting in evacuation, transport or deactivation tasks. However, its real value lies in its modularity: it is an adaptable system, almost like a set of War Legoaccording to Oleksandr Yabncanka, head of robotized systems of the Da Vini Wolves battalion.

Without having specialized models for each mission, the Ukrainian units use a single type of robot as a common basis They modify according to your operational needs. This flexibility reflects a generalized philosophy in the Ukrainian army since the beginning of the conflict: improvise, adapt, survive.

Military reinvention. Since the first year of war, Ukraine has been synonymous with reuse and Technical creativity. He has re -adapted Western lanzamisiles to Soviet platforms, mounted machine guns old in trucks, modified drones Commercial for suicidal missions and created mills such as unmanned ships and turrets with artificial intelligence.

Milrem is not the only company at stake: local companies such as Roboneers either FRDMtogether with European signatures such as ARX ​​Robotics (Germany) or Isolit-Bavo (Czech), are actively collaborating in the design and deployment of new models of land robots. This confluence between foreign industry, local operators and tactical demands generates an eInnovation sew that had not been seen before on this scale.

The war of the future. Be that as it may, there is a name that has risen above the other models. Bloomberg explained it With a scene: on the wooded banks of the Dnieper River, on the outskirts of kyiv, two small robotic vehicles descend towards the sand as if they were mechanized crabs. One transports food, the other sowing anti -tank mines. It is about Termit modelTangible symbol of how Ukraine, after three and a half years of total war against Russia, has become the forge of a new war paradigm: a war based on modular technology, cheap and fast to produce.

In a context of scarcity, urgency and systematic improvisation, the country has managed to create an arms ecosystem that rivals (for its agility and efficiency) with the great industrial powers. Already the 40% of the armament which uses comes from National Sourcesand according to Zelenski, this autonomy can serve as model for allies of NATO that face an increasingly volatile and dangerous geopolitical future. Military production, as he says Oleksandr Kamyshin experthas become the oil of Ukraine, the resource on which its survival is constructed.

Robot and converted engineers. The case dE Maksym Vasylchenko embodies the metamorphosis of the country. In 2022 he worked by installing food machinery for international companies; today directs Tencorea startup that has developed The Termitthose modular robots that already use more than twenty military units in the front.

With satellite connectivity Via Starlink and load transport capacity, evacuation of wounded or deployment of mines, these vehicles They have replaced to soldiers in areas of maximum risk, not only because they are more expendable, but for its lower cost: a basic termit It costs $ 20,000while the death of a soldier supposes the State a nearby total compensation at 380,000.

A different company. Of five initial employees to early 2024Tencore has grown to 175 workers, six venues, and projections of 80 million dollars In annual income. All driven by direct collaboration with combatants: a chat with forty active users serves as a constant feedback channel, where every five or ten minutes suggestions are provided.

This agility, impossible in the processes of acquiring Western governments, is one of the keys to the success of the Ukrainian model.

An area of ​​death. We have coming counting: The war in Ukraine has established a new operational environment dominated by low cost drones. Approximately the 70% of the Russian team destroyed has fallen by unmanned vehicles, many of them converted commercial adaptations. These FPV units already operate in almost any climatic condition, deliver blood in trenches or attack tanks with surgical precision.

The battlefield has become constant, immediate and three -dimensional, expanding the call Kill Zone At any time and place. At the beginning of June, Ukraine demonstrated its offensive capacity coordinated to the destroy bombers strategic in Russian bases that went from the north of the country to Siberia. The traditional logic of the front has been replaced by a decentralized war where the direct human risk is reduced to the minimum possible thanks to autonomous, fast and sacrifiable platforms.

The Russian answer. Of course, Moscow has not lagged behind. As We have spoken For weeks, ha adapted the drones Iranian Shahed to your needs and has begun to display vehicles Fiber cable guided optics, which makes them immune to electronic interference.

In May, the Russian production of combat drones increased 17% In a single month. The Russian strategy is clear: standardization, volume and industrial efficiency. While Ukraine bets on innovation and versatility of ad hoc solutions, Russia multiplies replicas through economies of scale. Both models coexist in a technological pulse whose supremacy could define not only the result of the war, but the 21st century conflict model.

Electronic Intelligence Bloomberg underlined cases like Yehor DudinovInformation Technology Specialist, which has also pivated military development. When the invasion broke out, he understood that Ukraine did not have enough means to defend himself in the field of electronic war, and decided to act. In six months, together with a small team and with support from the Ministry of Defense, created a device capable of detecting the location of radars, inhibitors and operators of enemy drones at a distance of up to 30 kilometers.

However, the main obstacle It is not technical, but financial. Investors demand immediate results and, in many cases, the viral visibility of their products on social networks. Your company, Falcons, has found a solution Unconventional: demonstrations in real combat, for which foreign defense departments are paid interested in validating new technologies under direct fire.

Time as a war resource. Speed ​​is a determining factor. In Words of DudinovThe front changes faster than ever, and the tests must be done on the ground immediately. The national industry already has production capacity three times higher than the annual acquisition budget of the country, which is around 12,000 million of dollars.

Plus: The potential market is huge, especially in Europe, where governments allocate hundreds of billions to defense. The only “but”: that weapons exports They are still prohibited By law while war continues, which generates tensions between companies and government. Since 2022, financing has decreased despite the exponential increase in productive capacity, and many firms warn that the impulse is not being used.

Between crafts and disruption. In spite of everything, the Ukrainian technological ecosystem boil of activity. The Defense Companies League indicates that the quality of the material is high, low costs and short delivery deadlines because they develop under extreme real combat conditions. Some startups are reducing use of Chinese and American components to shield yourself to future geopolitical changes.

Initiatives such as Roman Sulzhyk’sa former banker converted into military investor, look for the next disruption: from homemade missiles to laser guided drones. The prototypes do not always work, but the conviction here is clear: the important thing is to innovate and, above all, to do it now. In Sulzhyk wordsthe potential of the Ukrainian military technological sector is overwhelming.

And in its effervescence the future of war in Europe is forged.

Image | Rawpixel, X, Milrem RoboticsUKRAINE’S DEFENSE MINISTRY

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