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August 2024

Highlights

• Atmospherics: Ukraine launched a combined arms offensive into Russia’s Kursk region this week. Apart from displacing the war’s center of gravity, the audacious operation marks a major milestone in the offensive employment of small drones.

• Emerging Tech: According to Russian state media and military bloggers, an AI-enabled FPV drone called the "Veter" (Wind) has entered combat use.
  • Based on open-source reports, this drone most likely uses a terminal attack phase autonomy — a number of Ukrainian firms are also developing this technology.
  • "A target indicator appears, the target is captured, and the drone flies autonomously towards it.

• Battlefield Trends: Regarding information sharing among Ukrainian FPV and bomber pilots who are targeting helicopters, one Ukrainian drone operator told the Vector Report:
  • “Where do we get info? It’s all ‘collective’ — there are numerous groups, brigades, units, teams who work on specific positions and directions. They see these helicopters.”
  • Basically, each unit monitors the so-called pattern of life of Russian rotary ops in its sector and shares that information among other units.