Ukrainian ground robot survives five FPV strikes, finishes mission

A Ukrainian armed ground robot survived five FPV drone strikes and completed its combat mission before a sixth strike finally disabled it, according to DevDroid, the Ukrainian company that builds the system.

Soldiers from the fire support company of Ukraine’s 74th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion remotely operated the Droid TW-12.7 during an operation to clear an area where enemy personnel had gathered, DevDroid said. As the unmanned ground vehicle approached enemy positions, two FPV drones struck it almost simultaneously. One hit damaged its aiming module, but the machine stayed mobile and continued toward its objective, according to the company.

Operators kept firing on the target using the weapon’s barrel direction to aim after the aiming module was damaged, DevDroid said. Two more FPV strikes hit the UGV during the engagement, and it remained operational and completed the mission. A fifth strike hit the system on its way back, and it kept moving. A sixth FPV drone finally disabled the Droid TW-12.7, according to the company.

DevDroid said the enemy troop concentration was cleared and enemy forces took losses. The operation was carried out remotely, without exposing Ukrainian soldiers to direct contact with enemy forces, the company said.

“In this engagement, the enemy was able to stop the Droid only with the sixth FPV drone, but they still failed to prevent it from completing the mission,” said Yurii Poritskyi, CEO of DevDroid. “For us, this is what survivability means in practice: after being hit, a system must not simply remain mobile, it must retain enough functionality for its operators to complete the mission and achieve the intended result.”

The Droid TW-12.7 is a tracked ground robot built around a remotely operated turret carrying a 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine gun. According to specifications published by its distributor, the system can engage targets out to 1 km, reaches a top speed of 7 km/h (4.3 mph) and has an operational range up to 25 km (15.5 miles), with a tactical deployment radius of 5 km (3.1 miles) from its control station. It combines manual control with AI-assisted automatic targeting and communicates over radio, with mesh, LTE or satellite links available as options. Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has codified the system, clearing it for supply to Ukrainian forces.

The platform has seen extended combat use before this engagement. Ukraine’s Third Army Corps said in November that a Droid TW-12.7 operated by the corps’ NC-13 Strike Company held a frontline position for 45 straight days, standing in for an infantry unit at a contested crossroads while taking no Ukrainian casualties. The unit said the robot left its position briefly every two days for maintenance and to reload ammunition, handled by a crew stationed roughly 2.4 miles behind the front line.

DevDroid said the Droid TW-12.7 combines remote control, an integrated ballistic computer and AI algorithms to detect, track and engage targets while reducing risk to personnel. Beyond engaging infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and other armored targets, the company said the system can strike unarmored vehicles and equipment and suppress enemy positions, including platoon strongpoints and firing points. It also carries cameras and data links that let operators maintain situational awareness from a distance, according to DevDroid.