XPost: sci.military.naval, soc.history.war.misc, alt.war.world-war-three
XPost: ca.politics, seattle.politics

from https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2025/05/26/ukraine-drone-carriers-launch-first-long-range-autonomous-strikes/

go to citation to see videos.

Ukraine Drone Carriers Launch First Long-Range Autonomous Strikes
ByDavid Hambling, Senior Contributor. I'm a South London-based
technology journalist, consultant and author


Follow Author
May 26, 2025, 06:45am EDT

Share

Save

Comment
1
GOGLAL stratporced
Launch catapult for the GOGOL-M drone mothership
StratForce Solutions
Ukrainian startup Strategy Force Solutions claim their drone motherships
have carried out the first autonomous missions with attack drones in a
trials against Russian targets.

“A $10,000 mission replaces what previously required $3-$5 million
missile systems,” CTO Andrii (surname withheld), told me.

The StratForce approach has a reusable GOGOL-M mothership delivering two FPV-type attack drones to hit precision targets up to 300 kilometers
away. This approach leverages the ability of small drones to have big
effects on vulnerable targets such as parked aircraft, air defence sites
or infrastructure.

Andrii says they cannot yet release imagery of the attacks which cannot
be verified. However the work is a straightforward progression of
previously seen Ukrainian drone motherships and FPVs with AI-enabled
automated targeting. In fact, it might be seen as an operational version
of the autonomous long range attack system which the Pentagon’s DIU is currently racing to build, or the CGI swarm mothership recently shown
off by China.

PROMOTED

“By pairing them [small FPV type drones] with AI mothership drones, we
can guarantee precision strikes,” says Andrii.

MORE FOR YOU
Change Your PIN Code Now If It’s On This List

As Tesla Cybertruck Market Collapses, Used Price Gets Real

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Clues And Answers For Monday, May 26

Genesis: The Woman on The Tracks
Andrii says the underlying idea occurred to him many years ago. When he
was a boy, his family were driving beside a railway when they saw a
woman in unform walking down the line, miles from any settlement.
Andrii’s father explained the woman was checking the tracks for signs of problems which might cause a derailment. The young Andrii’s first
thought was this tedious job should to be done by a robot.

Years later, Andrii was following up this idea with drones for automated infrastructure inspection. A smart drone flies along power lines or oil pipelines and, where it sees a possible problem, drops lower and takes
detailed images. On return the drone uploads data of possible issues
with exact locations, so the maintainers decide whether they need to
send an engineer to take action.

Andrii’s work on infrastructure inspection was interrupted by Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. He turned his project on AI drones towards defending Ukraine.


A Smarter Pilot
StratForce’s key product is a SmartPilot system which uses a combination
of advanced sensors and AI. The roots in infrastructure inspection are
clear. While other developers use basic drone cameras, the requirement
for high precision calls for something more sophisticated.

Forbes Daily: Join over 1 million Forbes Daily subscribers and get our
best stories, exclusive reporting and essential analysis of the day’s
news in your inbox every weekday.

Email address
Sign Up
By signing up, you agree to receive this newsletter, other updates about
Forbes and its affiliates’ offerings, our Terms of Service (including resolving disputes on an individual basis via arbitration), and you
acknowledge our Privacy Statement. Forbes is protected by reCAPTCHA, and
the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
“In some ways it is like a self-driving car,” says Andrii. “In order for the autopilot to work properly they need a lot of cameras. There are not
so many obstacles in the air, but we he system as to be lightweight.
That’s how we arrived at our system of cameras, LIDAR and communication
to allow the AI to navigate, coordinate and maneuver around obstacles.”

symbol
00:06

03:12
Read More




Smart pilot
SmartPilot removes the need for a human operator
StratForce Solutions
LIDAR, effectively laser radar, builds up a 3D map of the surroundings,
and works in all lighting and weather conditions. SmartPilot’s other
main feature is AI which combines the inputs from multiple sensors.

“Smart Pilot uses a multi-sensor fusion approach, combining data for environment perception and target recognition,” says Andrii.

This world picture enables the AI to make decisions, plot a flight path
and carry out the mission just like a human pilot.

“With SmartPilot it was a really serious challenge how to imitate a
flight of the drone the way it would be remotely controlled by a pilot,”
says Andrii. “How to maneuver around obstacles, with the limitations of
the processor and in real time.”

Andrii says SmartPilot can carry out missions autonomously, finding its
way to a specified location and engaging targets there.

“It enables autonomous flight, navigation, and engagement without GPS
and without constant operator control,” says Andrii.

Attack Missions: Strike, Search, Or Ambush
In a typical application, the GOGOL-M mothership with a 20-foot wingspan
flies to the target area and releases two

FPV-type drones. Each of these has its own lightweight version of
SmartPilot. The mothership returns, leaving to FPV drones to find,
identify and carry out attacks on predefined targets such as air bases,
missile launch sites or air defence.

Andrii notes that the system is also effective against vulnerable infrastructure such as oil storage, power distribution and railways.

While a drone like the Shahed with its single warhead can only hit one
target, the mothership can hit multiple targets, then return for re-use.

Unlike the Shaheds, SmartPilot is not limited to static targets.

“It supports ambush missions, landing and waiting for targets, and
autonomous search in real time,” says Andrii.

The drones can land and wait at an airbase for aircraft to arrive or
emerge from their hardened shelters. Or they can be left in the path of
a convoy, ready to attack autonomously when it appears, a tactic already
widely used.


Andrii says StatForce can currently produce 50 GOLGOL-M mothership
drones per month and 400 of the FPV type attack drones, but this will
depend on getting contracts from the military.

So far, the feedback from trial missions has been positive.

“It feels like a video game. I just set the waypoints, choose the
targets, and watch it work,” says one user quoted by Andrii.

“It's fascinating to watch from the coordination center. I just wish we
could increase the warhead and push the range to 500 kilometres,” says another.

The important element of StratForce’s solution is the software. The
drones, both motherships and FPV attackers, can be of any size, shape or configuration. If users want a large, jet-powered mothership like
China’s SS-UAV, or bigger, fixed-wing attack drones, or even robot boats
or tanks carrying drones, these could be accommodated.

The crucial first step, long-range delivery of multiple small autonomous
attack drones, has now been taken. We do not yet know how effective this Version 1.0 is, or its limitations. But it is likely to give Russia some serious problems in the coming months.

Unitede24 drone carrie2
Larger Ukrainian carriers like this 6-FPV mothership from UNITED24,
could be modified for autonomous ... More
United24
Editorial Standards
Reprints & Permissions
David Hambling
Find David Hambling on X. Visit David's website. Browse additional work.

Follow Author
Join The Conversation
Comments
1
One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your
thoughts. Read our community guidelines here.
See All Comments (1)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)