Ukraine is already successfully intercepting ’Shahed’ drones, but ’technology window’ has not yet closed, - Madyar
Drone Industry
Ukraine is already deploying its first systems to intercept Russian ‘Shahed’ drones and has recorded successful shoot-downs, but it has not yet managed to eliminate this threat entirely.
The commander of the Unmanned Systems Force, Robert Brovdi (Madyar), spoke about this in an interview with The Telegraph, according to Censor.NET.
Jet-powered ‘shahids’ — a new technological ‘window’
According to Madyar, the ‘Shahed’ drones have presented Ukraine with a new technological challenge, but efforts to overcome it have already moved beyond the development stage.
"Alongside the war, there is a technology war, and in this technology war there are cycles of ‘windows of opportunity’, when one side gains access to a new technology and the other takes countermeasures during that brief period", he noted.
Brovdi emphasised that such technological advantages have arisen on numerous occasions throughout the war, and the opposing side usually finds ways to counter them within a few weeks or months. Madyar described the jet-powered ‘Shahed’ as such a ‘window’ which Ukraine has not yet been able to close completely.
The first successful shoot-downs
At the same time, he said, it is no longer just a matter of developing new technologies. Ukrainian engineers, who are working directly with the military on the front line, have already developed the first countermeasures against jet-powered drones and put them into practice.
"We are no longer talking about development, but about the deployment of the first systems – which were developed very quickly by Ukrainian engineers working in close collaboration with the military on the front line – the first launches of anti-tunnel missiles, and their successful interception. Consequently, it is only a matter of time before this task is resolved", said the commander.
He added that every new challenge forces Ukrainian engineers to adapt their approaches quickly and seek technological solutions to overcome it.
On the risks associated with the development of artificial intelligence
The Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces also spoke about the development of artificial intelligence and its potential application in military technology. According to Brovdi, the uncontrolled development of AI could turn it into a kind of ‘digital panopticon’, which would gradually shift the boundaries of what society perceives as acceptable and could lead to a loss of control over weapons.
"Drones are the plague of the third millennium. I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I say this. At this very moment, artificial intelligence – which has burst into our lives at breakneck speed – has, in effect, become a digital panopticon, a concrete digital panopticon that controls virtually every aspect of a modern person’s life," he said.
- Madyar added that he does not consider ‘Pandora’s box’ to have been fully opened yet; however, he said that the ‘Overton window’ on the issue of artificial intelligence has already been slightly opened.
